Prep hoop handles Malden Catholic

MALDEN – The St. John’s Prep boys basketball team used a strong fourth quarter after a poor third quarter, and closed out Malden Catholic, 60-52, at Doherty Gymnasium on Tuesday night.Free-throw shooting was a big factor in this game where both teams were sloppy offensively. St. John’s (9-0, 2-0) shot 23-of-28 from the free throw line while the Lancers were 11-of-19 from the charity stripe.The Eagles knocked down all 14 of their free throws in the first half.”We shoot free throws every day in practice,” said St. John’s Prep coach Sean Connolly. “We did a pretty good job of getting to the hoop and trying to get to the foul line.”Tyler Dooley led the Prep with 16 points. At one point, St. John’s was holding a tenuous 1-point lead in the fourth quarter and Dooley scored five straight points, including nailing a three-pointer to hand the Eagles a comfortable 49-43 margin. Andrew Hall came up with a big offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Dooley. Max Burt chipped in 10 points for the Eagles, especially some big free throws in the final minute to keep St. John’s in front of MC.Both squads were unable to take care of the ball as each team had over 20 turnovers. St. John’s did not appear to have a rhythm for the majority of the game, between the turnovers and missing some good looks at the basket.In the initial minutes of the game, St. John’s had four turnovers as Malden Catholic (4-4, 0-2) raced to a 7-2 lead with 4:36 left in the opening frame. Then St. John’s was able to get past the Lancers’ halfcourt traps for easy baskets in the open court. St. John’s held a 13-10 advantage after the first quarter.The Eagles controlled the play in the second quarter as they were able to get MC to go over the limit with 4:16 left in the period. St. John’s built a 35-24 lead at the break.The Prep scored just four points in the third quarter. Burt hit a big basket in the final seconds of the quarter to give the Eagles some momentum heading into the fourth quarter. The Prep was ahead by three points despite its turnovers and three blocked shots by MC’s Karlens Joas.”We didn’t help on their dribbler,” said Malden Catholic coach Jim McCune. “We just played them straight up and we relied on our on-the-ball defense.””Defensively, we got some stops in the fourth quarter and started taking care of the ball a little bit better,” explained Connolly. “Dooley made some big shots down the stretch.”MC’s Kyle Sangster (19 points) kept the Lancers in the game with some timely treys, but the Lancers were plagued by their turnovers and missing some key baskets inside the paint.Dooley and the Eagles would not be denied from extending their perfect record, especially to an opponent from the Catholic Conference.