Prep pulls away from English

LYNN ? In one of the feature games of the night in the 27th annual Elmo Benedetto Jamboree, St. John’s Prep went on a 9-2 run late in the first half of a 38-29 win over English, Friday night, at Classical High.Both teams unveiled plenty of new faces. Prep lost its four leading scorers from last season, while the Bulldogs’ roster includes three freshmen.”The most important thing was that we got all our players into the game, against a good opponent, with a big crowd on hand,” English coach Mike Carr said.Max Burt led all scorers with nine points for the Eagles, while Drex Costello added eight and Ben Judson had six.”I thought our team defense was pretty good,” St. John’s coach Sean Connolly said. “We have some work to do, but our effort was good.”Freddy Hogan paced the Bulldogs with seven points, while Ereck Rosario added five. Johnny Hilaire, Calvin Castro and Danny Lukanda had four each.With his team trailing by two, Burt hit a 3-pointer from a right elbow to put the Eagles on top for good with 4:19 left in the first half. Judson canned a 15-footer from the right baseline and then made a pair of free throws to help put St. John’s ahead, 17-11, at halftime.The lead peaked at 25-15, but English closed to within four (30-26) when Hilaire scored on an offensive rebound with 1:27 left. Mike Bisson converted a 3-pointer from the right wing 10 seconds later to help seal the win.Tech 21, Salem 21In a defensive battle, Shawn Osorio’s bucket with 1:45 left drew the game even. Salem had the last full possession, but did not score.Lynwood Moore paced the Tigers with eight points, while Osorio had six and Manloga Mbangu added four.For Salem, Davonte Holloway led the way with five points, while Billy Muse, Marvin Baez and Jared Louf-Woods scored four apiece.”We played tough defense,” Tech coach Marvin Avery said. “We’ve got four new starters, so we’re developing, but we’ll play hard.”The Witches opened the game with an 8-0 run that was highlighted by four points from Baez, including a 3-pointer from the right wing. Tech answered with a 6-point run that was led by Mbangu, who drained a jumper from the left wing and sank a pair of free throws.Salem came back with baskets Nick Salamida and Jamie Dominguez, but the Tigers closed on a 5-0 run, with Osario nailing a running layup with three seconds left in the first half to make the score 13-12 in favor of Salem at the break.Tech took its first lead when Miguel Santos canned a 3-pointer from the left elbow to open the second half, but neither team managed a lead of more than two points the rest of the way. Holloway scored on a rebound of a missed free throw and then hit one of two from the line to give the Witches a 21-19 lead with 1:55 left.St. Mary’s 25, Swampscott 21The Spartans looked like they might pull away when they ran off eight straight points midway through the first half, but Swampscott fought back with a run of its own thanks in part to senior captain Dan Trentsch, who buried two threes in the final 40 seconds to cut the defice to 15-13 at the half.It was a battle the rest of the way, but the Spartans got the job done from the free-throw line, hitting eight free throws. John Teehan led St. Mary’s with 7 points and Val Temin had the same for the Big Blue.”We got a lot out of it,” St. Mary’s coach Kevin Moran said. “This is a night when you want to see everyone get on the floor. It says a lot about the kids, how they react.”Classical 32, Fenwick 27The Rams biggest lead of the night came at the start of the second half when they went u 21-13, but Fenwick stuck around and made a run in the final minute or so, closing the gap to 29-27 before Classical put it away down the stretch.The Rams were led by Philli Rogers (8 points). Jorge Perez and Eraldo Custodio each had four points. Fenwick got a strong game from John Buccheri, who had 10 points, and Fran Hannon, who led all scorers with 12 points.”It was a good environment,” Fenwick coach Mike Kane said. “The place was packed when we starte