LOWELL — The No. 7 seed Classical boys basketball team put forward a great effort but couldn’t finish in a 76-61 loss at No. 2 Lowell Friday night in the Division 1 North quarterfinal round.
“The kids fought,” Classical coach Jasper Grassa said. “They really did. They battled. They played with a lot of heart. We died a bit at the end but it was kind of out of reach at that point. I’m proud of them. Every single kid, when they were out there worked their hardest. That’s all you can ask for.”
Jeff Hill led the way for the Rams with 13 points and six rebounds. Jeff Barbosa and Malik Anderson each had 12 points. Javahn Carter led Classical on the glass with six points and nine rebounds.
“The rebounding was a huge factor tonight,” Grassa said. “I haven’t looked at the stats yet but they had to have had a ton more shots than we had. We didn’t have a lot of second-chance points. They shot it well, especially after those offensive rebounds.”
A travel and a backcourt violation got the Rams off to a slow start on offense. Meanwhile Rashawn Settles hit a 3-pointer and Nathaniel Siow scored in transition after a steal to put Lowell ahead 8-3 early on. Midway through the first quarter Lowell’s Deven Okowuga added another three to push the lead to 11-5.
But Classical responded, with Carter scoring after hauling in an offensive rebound and Dyrrell Rucker (11 points) hitting a key three to help cut the Lowell lead to 15-12. Hill added a 3-pointer and Anderson drove into the paint for a late layup to tie the game at 17-17 after one.
The second quarter saw three early lead changes before the Rams went on another run. Rucker netted two straight baskets to help the Rams take their first lead of the night at 22-19. Later in the second, Carter jumped in front of a Lowell pass and found Anderson who scored to push the Classical lead to 27-23.
Hill hit another 3-pointer later in the second quarter to push the Rams lead to five. After a small run by Lowell Keith Ridley capped the half with a 3-pointer on the Rams’ last possession to give Classical a 39-34 lead.
Juan Nunez (game-high 24 points) got Lowell right back into the game in the third quarter with a quick 3-pointer. A few possessions later Okowuga added another three to put Lowell ahead 41-40. From there Nunez took over the third quarter. The junior guard converted an and-one and hit three more 3-pointers in the third to help push the Lowell lead to 57-49.
Both teams kept pace at the beginning of the fourth quarter but a few offensive rebounds helped Lowell pull away. Settles hit a 3-pointer midway through the fourth to push the Lowell lead to 10 points. Classical couldn’t dig itself out of the hole and Lowell hit a few more key 3-pointers to cruise through the final minutes.
With Classical’s season coming to a close, Grassa’s proud of how far the Rams came after a tough start to the season.
“We didn’t have a great start early this season,” Grassa said. “We really responded. I’m proud of how these kids came together. If you looked at our team at the beginning of the year it was all over the place. Then they really came together and made a great run down the stretch.”
Classical ends the season 15-7.
