FILE PHOTO
Tommy O’Neil led the Eagles with 21 points and earned tournament MVP honors after Monday’s win.
By GORDON VINCENT
BEVERLY – After his team fell behind by 11 points in the third quarter, St. John’s Prep basketball coach John Dullea removed the five players he had on the floor and replaced them with five reserves. The strategic maneuver had the desired effect.
The Eagles (16-5) rallied to snatch a 65-61 win from Beverly, in the championship game of the Larry McIntire IAABO Board 130 Classic, Monday night, at Beverly High.
Tommy O’Neil led St. John’s Prep with 21 points and was named the tournament MVP, while Matt Relihan of Lynnfield added 13 points, and Brett McNiff scored nine points and led his team with seven rebounds. But it was players like Andrew Selima, Christian Lamers, Colin Lomansey and, most especially junior varsity call-up Christian Plourde who led the comeback.
“Yeah, the kids we had on the floor weren’t getting it done, so we decided to send a fresh group out there to see if it would give us a spark,” said Dullea. “They gave us a lot of effort and intensity, and they turned the game around.”
The Panthers (12-8) built their lead to 15 (55-40) when Patrick Gavin (game high 27 points and spot on the all-tournament team) made a layup with 1:28 left in the third quarter. With five points apiece from Lamers and Lomasney, the Eagles went on a 17-2 run, and tied the game when O’Neil sank a free throw to make the score 57-57, with 3:54 left to play.
Beverly scored the next two buckets, but O’Neil made two more free throws and then Relihan drilled a long 3-pointer from the left elbow to give St. John’s its first lead since early in the second quarter. O’Neil scored a basket on a rebound with 1:11 left, while Relihan made one of two from the free throw line to put the Eagles ahead by four, with 16.7 left. St. John’s held the Panthers scoreless for the final 3:21 of the game.
“It’s a good win,” Dullea said. “Beverly is a good team, and their zone defense gave us some problems. They play with a lot of intensity, and we didn’t really match that early in the game.”
Both teams led by as many as three points in a first quarter that ended with Beverly on top, 17-16. The Panthers opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run, before a basket by Patrick Sweetnam of Marblehead halted the spurt. Beverly eventually led by as many as eight points when Hugh Calice made a jumper from the foul line with 3:40 left before halftime.
St. John’s roared back behind Relihan and Nate Hobbs (eight points; all-tournament team) to tie the game at 34-34 before Gavin hit a jumper from the left elbow to give Beverly a 2-point lead at halftime.
Calice scored a couple of baskets to give the Panthers an 8-point lead early in the third quarter, but left the game shortly thereafter with an apparent ankle injury. His team continued to score, though, and a running layup by Kevin Morency gave Beverly its first double-digit lead at 48-37 with 3:59 left in the third quarter.
Duncan Moreland and Toskany Abreu each had 10 points for the Panthers.
