WEST ROXBURY - The last time St. John’s Prep visited the Ronald S. Perry Gymnasium, they snapped Catholic Memorial's 39-game winning streak.
It was not easily forgotten by the Knights (5-3) as they added onto a new streak last night, holding off the Eagles' fourth quarter comeback in an 80-76 Catholic Conference thriller.
“We know they are very, very good,” Catholic Memorial coach Denis Tobin said. “We had a little extra incentive to try and get that streak going again against these guys. It was as focused as my team’s been this year.”
The focus came from the top down as senior captain Kani Glover showed his closing ability, scoring 10 of his team-high 23 points in crunch time of the second half. Others on the team followed as eight players found their way on the scoresheet.
“Glover was immense tonight,” Tobin said. “He led by example and basically refused to let us lose.”
After a 17-17 first quarter, CM began to up the intensity on the defensive end and the end result was forced turnovers and fast break opportunities. Jarron Flynn put in six points at the rack in the opening minutes of the second. With the clock winding down in the half, Brendan Ryan gave the host extra breathing room as he stared down a defender before hitting a 3-pointer to give the hosts a 41-36 score at the break.
The Knights began the third quarter right where it left off, and contained the Eagles' to their lowest quarter point-total in the game with 16. It started with a 13-2 run as Jarrett Allen and Will McDonnell accounted for all the offense during the span.
Late in the third quarter, SJP (5-2) began to find its way around the full-court press, relying on an inside out attack as Tommy O’Neil converted a pair of baskets inside, while Will Batchelder buried a pair of 3-pointers to cut the CM lead to 65-52 after three.
SJP took the momentum built in the third to catapult its best quarter in the fourth and nearly the comeback. The Eagles continued to use a mix of 3-pointers and layups and cut the margin to 79-76, but missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
“I think we just made one more shot than they did,” Tobin said.
