By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)
BOSTON - Coming into the season BC High coach Bill Loughnane had high expectations for his team. So far, those expectations have been met.
Behind 30 points from Carl Pierre and 26 more from Travis Evee, the Eagles jumped out to a 15 point first quarter advantage and weathered a second half Malden Catholic surge to defeat the Lancers, 81-62, in front of a large crowd at BC High.
The win improves No. 2 BC High to 10-0 and clinches them a spot in the 2017 MIAA state tournament.
Loughnane said Pierre has done everything he needs to as the team’s leader.
“We expect a lot from Carl and he gives us a lot,” said Loughnane. “He’s been a leader for us and is at the top of the list in terms why we’re in the position we are.”
All evening long Pierre attacked the combination of zone defenses that Malden Catholic threw at the Eagle offense. When the Lancers slouched off and attempted to stop Pierre from going to the basket, the Randolph native splashed home six 3-pointers.
In the event they came out to pressure the ball, he went right by the defender, hitting five mid-range jumpers.
Pierre said the work he put in over the summer has paid off.
“I was in the gym almost every day this past offseason taking 500-600 shots a day,” said Pierre. “Last year when I couldn’t hit my shot I think I was taken out of games, and I didn’t want that to happen this year, so I made it a priority.”
The matchup between two Catholic Conference foes got off to a riveting start as, due to a sound system malfunction, the Eagles’ home crowd was required to sing the National Anthem.
BC High (10-0, 2-0) seemed to feed off the vocal talent of their own fan section, pouring in 24 first quarter points and taking a 24-9 advantage after one.
In the second quarter Malden Catholic (7-2, 1-2) slowly but surely got themselves back into the game.
Trailing 27-11 early in the frame, the Lancers turned to their 2-1-2 full court pressure to get the tempo in their favor.
The decision worked.
After star guard Michael Boyd (22 points) and Evee traded baskets, Curt Philpot nailed a corner three and Boyd hit another mid range jump shot to get Malden Catholic back within 11.
Cameron Kelly (14 points) quickly began to assert himself in the paint for the Lancers, using his strong right-handed dribble to get to the basket along the base line.
Two lay ups by Kelly book ended consecutive 3-pointers by Philpot and Boyd to get Malden Catholic within eight, 40-32, heading into halftime.
“I thought we got a little 3-point happy,” said Loughnane. “We have to just be patient because when we we’re we got open looks but I thought we kept going for the home run ball on every play in the second quarter.”
The Lancers’ momentum carried over into the beginning of the third quarter.
After a Pierre three pointer boosted the Eagles lead back up to 11, 45-34, Kelly and Boyd responded with back-to-back baskets to trim the deficit to just seven.
An Eagles turnover allowed Malden Catholic to get out and run, and Kelly once again found himself in front of the basket for a put back to cut the Eagles lead to five.
Boyd followed up by showing off his range, launching a deep pull up three-pointer from the left wing to bring the Lancers within just two, 45-43.
From that point forward, however, the combination of Pierre, Evee and Eagles’ big man Jordan Minor (12 points, 13 rebounds) took full control.
Pierre finished the frame with seven points over the last three minutes, while Evee added six of his own on two deep 3-pointers to give the Eagles a healthy 61-46 lead after three.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas pedal,” said Pierre. “We have to play for seeding now and try to get a couple of home games so we can play in front of our crowd.”
The road does not get any easier for either of these two teams, with BC High taking on O’Bryant and St. John’s Prep next week, while Malden Catholic starts a four-game road trip that includes the Prep and Catholic Memorial.
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