Brockton Holds Off BC High to Continue Hot Start

By Matt Feld (@mattyfeld612)

BOSTON - For Brockton, the final four minutes felt like four years.

Over the course of the final quarter, the Boxers saw their 17-point lead over BC High shrink to two with just under 20 seconds to go. On the Eagles' final possession, however, the Brockton defense stood firm, blocking BC High’s final prayer to come away with a 55-53 win in a state tournament-like atmosphere Tuesday night at McNeice Pavilion.

Eagle guard Travis Evee led all scorers with 25 points, while Brockton’s Taisaun Glenn-Doherty had eight points and 11 rebounds.

BC High trailed 50-33 early in the fourth quarter after Jalen Lee splashed a three-pointer, but five points from Evee around a Jimmy Tan basket cut the Boxers deficit down to 10 with just over five minutes to play.

Later in the fourth, after Brockton had pushed their lead back up to 11, Evee connected on a deep three-pointer before hitting two at the line to pull BC High within 53-47 with 2:23 left.

After a timeout, the Eagles came out in a full court press, forcing a Boxers turnover.

Back on offense Evee immediately attacked, hitting a base line jump shot to cut the Brockton lead to four, 53-49.

Glenn-Doherty increased the Brockton lead to 55-49 on a put back, but Evee answered by connecting on a three pointer from the corner and hitting one of two at the line to pull BC High within two.

Evee then transferred his production to the defensive side of the ball drawing a charge to give the Eagles a chance to steal a victory with 11 seconds to play.

The Boxers’ defense stiffened up and tipped a pair of potential three pointers from BC high on their final possession to hold off the Eagles comeback and come away with a victory.

“(BC High) was making some great plays and we we’re doing some things we were not supposed to,” said Brockton head coach Bob Boen. “Defensively, though, was the key we did well on (Evee) for the most part.”

Offensively, Brockton received a balanced attack, with Jarice Harris leading the way with 10 points.

The Boxers heated up from the field in the third quarter after heading into the break with a 24-22 lead.

Harris hit his first two from the field, the latter of which was a trey, to put Brockton up five.

Later in the period, Segun Okunlola and Glenn-Doherty had consecutive put-backs to increase the Boxer lead to 10.

Marcus Azor capped off what was a 23-11 advantage for Brockton in the third quarter by hitting a mid-range jump shot as the buzzer sounded to put the Boxers up 47-33 heading into the final stanza.

“I thought we finally got into our offense there,” said Boen. “I thought both teams played very good defense. Third offense we got our offense going, got some open shots and made them.”

The Eagles struggled to generate any momentum on offense, as they shot just 29-percent from the floor for the game, and 8-of-36 from beyond the arc.

On the other end of the floor, the Boxers used their size advantage in the paint to create second chance opportunities. Brockton out-rebounded BC High 47-31 for the game, and had 13 second chance points.

Boen praised his team’s versatility, with 12 different players giving quality minutes.

“I am very happy with this year’s team,” said Boen. “We started all 12 players this year. First night we started five guys versus Shrewsbury, the next night I started five different guys. I have 10 really solid players and two role players.”

Brockton’s veteran attributes are certainly showing, as the Boxers now possesses a 4-0 record that include a pair of two point wins over Division 1 South contenders in Marshfield and the aforementioned Eagles.