LYNN — Winning the Walter J. Boverini girls basketball tournament never gets old for St. Mary’s coach Jeff Newhall.
On the other hand, the title eluded Classical boys coach Jasper Grassa when he played, and then when he came back home to coach with his father after his stellar basketball career at Bentley University.
Today, Grassa has finally a Boverini title and Newhall has his fourth in a row.
The Rams won the boys title Friday in their own gym, downing the Spartans 49-44 while the St. Mary’s girls defeated Classical in the nightcap, 57-39.
“I never won one of these when I played here,” said Grassa. “When I was in college, I believe we may have won a couple, but not while I played.”
Even though both teams played flypaper defense during the game, Classical finally put some distance between itself and the Spartans late in the first half and led by nine, 24-15, at the break. But that’s when the game became tense.
It looked as if the rout was on early in the third quarter when the Rams went up by 12, 27-15.
But St. Mary’s mounted a comeback that turned the rest of the game into a nailbiter.
“Anyone who watched that game and wasn’t entertained by it isn’t a high school basketball fan,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “My hat is off to Classical. That’s a good team, and they played well.”
Once St. Mary’s began to heat up, the Spartans reeled off 10 straight points, punctuated by a three-pointer by Josh Perez, to climb to within two, 27-25. After one free throw by Malik Anderson, Chibuikem Onwuogu and Stephen Fama hit back-to-back baskets to give the Spartans the lead, 29-28. For the rest of the third quarter and through the final period, it was back-and-forth.
The teams entered the fourth quarter with Classical holding a 32-30 lead. Onwuogo (9 points) hit consecutive baskets to give St. Mary’s he lead again, 34-32, but a foul shot by Dyrrell Rucker and a hoop by Deontae Plouffe allowed Classical to take a one-point lead (35-34) with 5:40 to go.
Back and forth it went until Perez (who led St. Mary’s with 14 points) hit a three to make it 38-37, Spartans.
St. Mary’s looked as if it had made a defensive stop on the other end on a block of a Jonathan Nicosia shot, but the call was goaltending instead, which tied the game at 39.
“That was the turning point,” said Brown. “That wasn’t goaltending. It was a good block.”
From there, Classical began pulling away.
“I was happy that after we lost the big lead, we had the poise to come back and win,” said Grassa. “I think our experience in the state tournament last year gave us a lot of poise.
“St. Mary’s has poise,” added Grassa. “They always have poise. And they take advantage of every little mistake you make.”
Edwin Solis (8 points but a force for Classical on the boards) was named the tournament’s MVP. Jaylen Johnson led Classical with 10 points and Rucker added nine.
In the girls game, Classical looked as if it would match the boys for a title in the early going, taking an early 17-10 lead, thanks, in part, to six points from Paris Wilkey (who led the Rams with 15 points).
But St. Mary’s came storming back in the second quarter, thanks to torrid three-point shooting by Gabby Torres (team-leading 16 points), and the Spartans had a 25-19 lead at the half.
“We came out slow, and that’s kind of the way it’s been for us,” said Newhall. “Not a lot of kids on our team understand the intensity of this tournament where Classical does. They came out hot and we didn’t.
“But,” Newhall said, “once we settled down, I thought we played very well.”
Where three-point shooting got St. Mary’s its lead in the first half, the Spartans began pounding the ball down low in the final 16 minutes. Olivia Nazaire scored all of her 15 points in the second half on an assortment of low-post moves.
“She’d been having some trouble,” said Newhall. “But the other day (in the first-round game against English), something inside her went off and she began to have that look on her face again.”
Classical coach Tom Sawyer acknowledged his team had a tough time defending the Spartans.
“And that’s my fault,” he said. “They can beat you so many ways. They had nine three-pointers, and their inside girl scored 15 points. They had it both going tonight.”
After Classical scored the first three points of the third quarter, St. Mary’s put together a 16-6 run to close the period, and entered the fourth quarter with a 41-27 lead. They were never threatened thereafter.
Nazaire was named the tournament’s MVP.
Newhall joked afterward that he’s undefeated against the Northeastern Conference (the Spartans have also defeated English, Saugus and Salem) and haven’t won either of their Catholic Central League games.
“But we’re 4-2, and I’m happy,” he said.
The loss dropped Classical to 4-1.
