North wins fast-paced Agganis boys hoop game

LYNN – It would appear the wrong sport was featured Monday night at the St. Mary?s gym. The schedule said boys basketball, and it sure looked as if there were basketball players on the floor.But this could have just as easily been the inaugural Agganis boys track meet. The final score wasn?t anything like you?ve ever seen for a high school game … and these days, you don?t see too many games in college or the NBA where both teams end up in three digits.But read it and weep. The score ended up 133-112, North over South, in a back-and-forth affair where there were few interruptions in the 50 minutes of showtime. And this isn?t any indictment against the fine art of defense either. There was just enough of it to keep the players honest. But what there was more of, on both teams, was pinpoint passing that belied the three-month break these guys have had since the last time they played high school hoop.?It was fun,” said St. John?s Prep?s Max Burt, who was the North?s MVP with a game-high 26 points. “This is probably going to be the last organized game of basketball I play (Burt will attend Northeastern in the fall and play baseball), and it was fun to go out with a win. I?m a competitor, and I like to win. So that was good.”Burt?s coach was the same one he had in high school this year: John Dullea. And he said Dullea told the team to just go out there and play … and not to hog the ball. The result was an awful lot of extra passing, which may have seemed strange for an all-star basketball game, but not so, said Burt.?Everyone was having fun moving the ball,” he said. “That?s what made this as much fun as it was.”It took the North a while to get going. The South was up by 10 points midway through the first half, but the North chipped away. Finally, Matt Costello of Fenwick put the North ahead to stay.The North got the lead up to 11 (66-54) by the half. But the South kept sticking in baskets to keep the North from pulling too far ahead with a bevy of double-digit scorers of its own. Leading the South was Jamie Dominguez of Salem (22 points) and Freddy Hogan of English (21). But it was Nick Cross of Beverly who scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half to garner MVP honors. With Cross on the floor, the South went from trailing 75-58 to being down only by six (75-69). During that stretch, Cross scored 11 straight points, three of them on threes.?When you get that hot,” he said, “you just try to keep getting the ball and shooting it.”Cross had a bit of an edge. He played against, and with, a lot of players on both sides. He was at Fenwick as a freshman, playing with Costello and Dom (13 points) Luoni, and The Prep as a sophomore, where he played with Burt, Max Butterbrodt (23 points) and Mike Bisson (8).The South, coached by Danvers? John Walsh and assisted by Saugus? Paul Moran, rotated players in and out so Cross didn?t play the entire game. But aside from Dominguez and Hogan, the South also got good games from Saugus? Joe Bertrand (15 points), Ryan Himes (Marblehead, 11) and David Kazadi (Salem, 10).The North got 16 from Pat Halloran of Amesbury, 16 from Jared McCarron, Peabody; and 15 from Ryan Fitzgerald (Winchester).