Classical boys hoop falls to Prep in OT

LYNN – The Classical boys basketball team (3-5) never felt it was out of the game, but was unable to overcome its mistakes in overtime as it fell to St. John’s Prep, 73-68, at Classical on Wednesday night.Click here for a photo gallery.Ben Judson scored the winning basket to give the Prep a 69-67 lead with 1:02 left and he expanded the advantage to four with a left corner jumper. Tyler Dooley iced the game with two free throws.”He got the jump shot in the lane, then he hit the jumper in the corner, so he got a couple of good looks,” said St. John’s head coach Sean Connolly. “He stepped up and hit a couple of big shots for us.”The Prep (7-0) led for the majority of the game, but Classical used its 3-2 zone defense to stop the Eagles’ dribble penetration.”Clearly, we had no luck stopping them,” said Classical head coach Tom Grassa. “They were spreading us out and beat us to the hole.”Dooley led the Eagles with 22 points.The Rams were able to hang with St. John’s for the first few minutes of the contest before the Prep went on an 11-0 run to extend the advantage into double digits. St. John’s perimeter shooting was hurting the Rams as Eagles guard Drex Costello hit a couple of three-pointers during the run.Rams forward Phillip Rogers (17 points) kept the Rams in the game with his offensive rebounding and putbacks. Whenever the Rams tried to run in transition, the Prep was able to get back on defense.In the second half, Jorge Perez knocked down a shot from beyond the arc and Jalen Brown (18 points) scored 6 points as the Rams went on a 13-5 run to tie the game. Dooley and the Eagles scored the next nine points to give St. John’s a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.The Rams continued to chip away and the crowd went crazy when Jordan Brown nailed a trey to make it a three-point difference at 60-57. The teams traded baskets until Rogers made a conventional three-point play to tie the game at 64 in the final minute. The Prep had the ball in the final seconds, but Classical forced Dooley to lose the ball and Brown missed a halfcourt heave at the buzzer to send it into extra time.In overtime, Prep guard Max Burt hurt the Rams with his ability to attack the glass on the offensive end and he made three free throws when he was fouled shooting a three-pointer.”The dribble drive kick killed us for three periods,” said Grassa. “Our inability to rebound the ball in the final few minutes hurt us.”