WOBURN — Making consecutive journeys to a title recreation isn’t simple.
Yet Malden Catholic is again the place they had been 12 months in the past.
Nicholas Martinez and Matthew Gaffney registered 18 factors apiece Monday, because the top-seeded Lancers overcame a 15-point deficit en path to punching a ticket to the Div. 2 boys basketball finals for a second straight season with a 66-54 victory over No. 5 Charlestown at Woburn Memorial High School.
These two applications had beforehand met twice this season, with Malden Catholic (22-2) taking each contests (a 66-64 win on Dec. 13, adopted by a 76-66 victory Feb. 14). However, for many of the first half Monday, Charlestown managed the tempo of play.
After the Lancers opened the sport by seizing a 7-2 lead, the Townies answered with a 13-0 scoring run of their very own to leap forward, 15-7.
Then with 5:31 to play within the first half, sophomore Jaylin Crawford-Williams drilled a three-pointer to offer Charlestown its largest benefit of the night time at 24-9.
“They were ready to play,” Gaffney stated afterward. “We had already played them twice, we knew what to expect. They knew what to expect. They just came out more hot, more aggressive, more physical. We just weren’t ready in the first five or six minutes. Then, once we started hitting our threes, we just came back into it.”
With his group in determined want of a spark late within the second quarter, Gaffney stepped up for Malden Catholic. The sophomore guard buried three consecutive triples in fast succession, shaving the deficit to 26-24 with slightly below two minutes left within the body.
With former teammates similar to Tony Felder Jr. roaring them on from the stands, the Lancers out of the blue had life.
“(We had to) just relax,” stated Malden Catholic coach John Walsh. “Relax, you know what I mean? Just try to creep back in, then Matt hit four threes in like four possessions, it was something crazy. That got us back in and we cut it to three by the half. We felt comfortable at that point.”
Once the third quarter started, the momentum continued for Malden Catholic. Ben Howard supplied the Lancers a 32-30 lead off a layup with 5:01 to go, and they’d draw back from there.
With 4:07 left in regulation, Martinez pressured a steal, then drove coast-to-coast for a contested layup to make it 56-45, sealing the victory.
In addition to the performances of Gaffney and Martinez, Malden Catholic additionally obtained a implausible outing from Buckley (Bo) Moody (15 factors). The junior guard completed 5-for-9 from three-point land.
Charlestown was led by Crawford-Williams (20 factors, six rebounds, six blocks) and freshman Jaylen Hunter-Coleman (16 factors).
Malden Catholic will now try to seize its second straight Div. 2 crown this upcoming weekend.
“We’re just going to go in, we’re going to play our game,” stated Martinez. “We’re not going to try and change anything. Whatever Walsh tells us, we’re going to do. We’re going to try to execute it, and we’ll just see what goes on from there.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com
