Connaughton leaps to top of Prep scoring list in Eagles’ win over MC

DANVERS – Three years ago as a freshman, Pat Connaughton was on the floor as he watched senior guard Ryan O’Connell play his way to the top of St. John’s Prep’s all-time scoring list in basketball.Little did anyone know that the scrawny freshman from Arlington would turn out to be O’Connell’s heir apparent.On Tuesday at Memorial Gymnasium, Connaughton ascended to the top spot in Eagle history as his 24-point effort against Malden Catholic sailed him past O’Connell and led the way to a commanding 91-52 Prep victory over the Lancers.Click here for a photo gallery.A former high school star who knew a thing or two about going to the top of all-time scoring lists, Prep coach Sean Connolly was very happy to see Connaughton get the mark.”It really is a great accomplishment for Pat,” Connolly said. “There have been so many great players here at St. John’s and for him to be atop that list, it couldn’t happen to a better kid.”Fittingly, Connaughton’s crowning moment came in style during the third quarter, when he flew down the floor and buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to send the packed house over the moon.”It was cool to see how Ryan got all the notoriety and stuff when he was going through this,” Connaughton said. “And how he handled all of it. I couldn’t have played with a better kid at the time.”It wasn’t just a one-man show, however, on Tuesday for the Eagles. Steve Haladyna and Mike Carbone were just as integral to the big win.Haladyna finished his night as co-leading scorer with 24 points while Carbone was on fire from behind the 3-point line, hitting six long-range bombs on the way to 22 for the night.”Mike has been struggling with his shot lately so it was nice to see him finally break out a little bit,” Connolly said.For a while it looked like MC might play the role of spoiler on a big night for the Eagles. St. John’s led by as much as 13 in the early going but the Lancers scraped their way back thanks to solid inside play from Domenic Mastascusa, who finished with a team-high 16 points.The Lancers clawed back to within eight at 33-25 with 1:56 left in the half and looked set to make things interesting ? then the Eagles put the hammer down.Owen Marchetti and Carbone hit back-to-back threes from the right corner to help trigger an 11-0 half-closing run that blew the lead out to 44-25. And the Eagles were just getting warmed up.Connaughton and Haladyna would score the first nine points of the third quarter as the Eagles polished off a 20-0 run that made it 53-25 with 3:30 left in the third quarter. The run eventually capped out at an astounding 33-4 as the Prep led 66-29 late in the quarter.”We’ve been stressing defense all year,” Connolly said. “And I wasn’t at all pleased with how we played defense in the first quarter but the guys picked up the intensity in the second quarter and beyond.”