BOSTON – St. John’s Prep exorcised some demons in a 71-58 victory over Central Catholic Saturday night at the TD Garden.
Playing in the main event of the Good Sports Invitational, the Prep dominated the second half against Central, a team that has given constant headaches to the Eagles.
“That’s the best 3-7 team we’ll ever play,” said St. John’s Prep coach John Dullea. “Any time you can get a win like that, it’s big.”
The Prep (5-2) delivered a consistent inside-out attack throughout to wear down Central. Junior center Harry O’Neil (18 points, 16 rebounds) dominated both ends of the paint, and Spencer Danforth (17 points, four three-pointers) was a threat to score whenever he had the ball past midcourt.
“Last year they beat us twice and ended our season, so to beat them is huge,” said O’Neil. “It’s a really good opportunity to play at the Garden, and we played to our full potential. This win means a lot to the whole school.”
The two teams traded runs in the first quarter, with the Prep clinging to a one-point lead (16-15) after the opening quarter. Central (3-7) used its speed to neutralize the Prep’s size, staying within four, 32-28, at the half. Sophomore Kevin Fernandez led the Raiders with 14 points, while George Grillakis (12 points, three assists) and Tanahj Pettway (11 points, six rebounds) also contributed.
“We played a good, solid half against a great St. John’s team,” said Central coach Rick Nault. “Then our inexperience showed against an experienced team. We’re used to being a winning, dominant program, and this year’s been a challenge for us, to say the least.”
The Prep held Central scoreless in the final four minutes of the third quarter, and Danforth scored eight of his team’s final 11 points to give the Prep a 52-43 advantage after three.
“Spencer’s been doing it all year for us,” said Dullea. “He’s our high energy guy. He always covers the other team’s best player, but having him having scoring at the guard position is big for us.”
The Prep’s recipe for success was forcing Central into contested jump shots, allowing only one chance to score per possession, and harassing the young Central guards into turnovers that led to easy baskets.
“Defensively, we want to lock teams down,” said Dullea. “We did a pretty good job of executing our game plan on the defensive end.”
The Prep ended any discussion of a close game with a 19-0 run that started at the end of the third and carried over into the fourth quarter. That scoring burst turned a 44-43 game into a rout. Central struggled to adjust to the Prep’s defense, and simply could not stop O’Neil. The Prep’s lead swelled to as big as 20 in the fourth quarter.”Not too many teams can match up with Harry down low,” said Dullea. “We need to take advantage of that and execute, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that. This was Harry’s first rivalry game, and he thrived.”