DANVERS — The Lynn English and St. John’s Prep boys basketball teams took part in a pair of state tournament tune-ups Sunday night at the Eastern Massachusetts Hoops Invitational.
In the first game, the Eagles fell to Everett 83-70. Nate Hobbs led St. John’s with 25 points. Tommy O’Neil added 24 and Matt Relihan scored 10.
“I think we’re in the same class as Everett,” Eagles coach John Dullea said. “We just didn’t make some plays at the end when we needed to and they did. It was tied going into the fourth. We worked our way back and battled but we needed more plays at the end.”
O’Neil had the hot hand early, swishing two 3-pointers and a pair of baskets to score 10 points in the first quarter. Behind a buzzer-beater from Caleb Jacobs , Everett led 21-17 after one. Everett stretched the lead to double-digits in the second quarter and led 40-32 at halftime.
With Hobbs leading the charge, the Eagles stormed back in the second half. Hobbs scored 14 points in the third quarter, helping Eagles to a 56-56 tie after three. The Eagles ran out of steam in the closing minutes and Everett capitalized. The Crimson Tide outscored St. John’s 27-14 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
“Nate was aggressive tonight,” Dullea said. “He went to the basket and made some shots. He played well tonight. He covered (Isaiah) Likely so he had a lot of responsibilities but he played well. Nate’s a tough kid to stop.”
In the nightcap, English rolled past Billerica for a 80-45 win. The Bulldogs scored the first 13 points of the game before Billerica hit a bucket. English led 44-15 at halftime.
“It felt nice to play a lot of our guys,” English coach Antonio Anderson said. “I told our guys that we’d do that if we had a good lead at halftime. We just had to come here and focus on playing our game.”
English was led by 11 points each from Javaris Hill and Javonte Edwards. Alonzo Linton added 10 and Myles Manalaysay scored 8.
English draws a rematch against Everett in tonight’s championship game (6). The Eagles (14-5) will play Billerica in the consolation (4).
“I expect my guys to fight,” Anderson said. “Everett’s a good team with a lot of good players. We just have to make sure we don’t make mistakes because they’ll capitalize.”
