LYNN — Maybe the Classical basketball players should set their watches ahead an hour?
Maybe that way they’d start playing at 7 p.m., even if they think it’s 8 p.m.
The Rams — again — got out of the gate slowly Monday night at Cavanagh Fieldhouse. And again, just like a week and a half ago in the Boverini Tournament, Classical got its act together in the final 16 minutes and overtook English, 70-65, to take its second straight game this season in its crosstown rival’s gym.
“That’s been the story of our last five games,” said coach Tom Grassa. “We’re getting off to some very slow starts. We’ve been lucky if we got into the low 20s by halftime.”
Monday, the Bulldogs led at the break, 42-27, though the margin was much higher than that (18) before Classical put on a brief flurry in the final minute.
Freddie Hogan torched the Rams for 17 first-half points while Stevie Collins had eight. But Grassa implemented a triangle-and-two zone defense in the second half, effectively taking Hogan — who was weakened by a flu bug — out of the game. He had only two second-half foul shots.
The Rams were about as successful with Collins in the second half, allowing him six. And Eddie Rosario — another object of Classical’s attention — ended up with six as well after scoring four in the first half.
But that was basically it for English. Adding to the Bulldogs’ woes as the game wore on was the fact that Ben Bowden, one of the few big men on the English roster, was in foul trouble. He ended up with seven, but almost won the game for the ‘Dogs with a late-game layup.
But nobody on the ‘Dogs was any match for the troika of Jalen Brown (a monster on both ends, who finished with 24 points), Eraldo Custodio (18) and Phillip Rogers (13). Brown was a beast off the boards as well, and the Rams had their way on the glass at both ends (15 offensive rebounds, 36 total).
“We’re not a big team,” said English coach Mike Carr, “and when they went into that triangle-and-two, we didn’t adjust well. We had an offense we run when people do that, but other guys have to step up and score.”
Coming out of the break, Classical outscored English 26-12 in the third quarter as the Rams took over the boards and ran a very efficient fast break as a result. Rogers and Custodio had eight points apiece in the quarter, with Custodio launching the comeback with three straight in-close hoops that brought Classical to within two (47-45). Right before the end of the period, Rogers gave the Rams a 53-52 lead, but Rosario got one at the buzzer to make it 54-53, English.
Brown took over the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of his 24 points. English appeared to reassert itself early, going up by five (58-53), but a 9-3 spurt by Classical had the Rams up by one (62-61) with 3:42 to go.
Rosario sunk two free throws to give the lead back to English, but Brown’s two foul shots put Classical up again. Another bucket swap (Bowden for the Dogs, Rogers off a steal) made it 66-65, Classical.
The game’s crucial moment came with 11.8 seconds left when Brown skied to snatch the rebound off a missed Classical foul shot, got fouled himself, and made both.
He then hit two more free throws to ice the game.
“It’s tough to lose to them twice on our floor,” said Carr, “but it was a great game. We’ll learn from this and move on.”
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
