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Middlesex Magic STAR Pat Connaughton scores 1000th Point in Victory over Beverly
By Mike Grenier, Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010
DANVERS — St. John's Prep and Middlesex Magic basketball standout Pat Connaughton wasn't pursuing his 1,000th career point last night, even though it was a foregone conclusion that he'd get it. Instead, he and his team were hunting down yet another North Shore Invitational championship.
The Eagles take their cue from Connaughton, who never panics and gets everything in the flow of the game. Playing hungry and with nothing to lose in the underdog role, Beverly (11-8) threw a scare into St. John's Prep in the opening half, but Connaughton blasted off for 33 points and 20 rebounds as the Eagles prevailed, 81-67, to win the title for the ninth time in the tourney's 13-year history.
St. John's Prep hiked its record to 18-1 in the process.
As a sidelight, Connaughton, who had 990 points going into the game, did hit the 1,000 point mark with a turnaround jumper to give his team a 32-24 lead with 3:51 left in the first half. The game was halted briefly as Connaughton presented a basketball and flowers to his parents, Sue and Len, but he and his teammates just wanted to get back to business.
"It was nice to get it over with," Connaughton said of the 1,000 point milestone. "You just want to go back on the court and keep it going. But it was nice to do it under coach (Sean) Connolly, who was one of the greatest scorers in Massachusetts history with 2,473 points. It's good to do it (in that context)."
"He's a tremendous player," Beverly coach Scott Lewis said of Connaughton, who was limited to two points in the opening quarter by the Panthers' collapsing 3-2 zone, "and he raises the level of the kids around him because he can do so many things.
"Basically, we would've had to shoot lights out to beat them. We shot okay, but not lights out. And (St. John's) hit just enough three-pointers to get us out of that defense. Once they get Connaughton into the open floor, he has the ability to get all kinds of easy baskets."
Connaughton was the no-brainer choice for tournament MVP, but he had plenty of help. Sophomore Steve Haladyna tossed in 15 points and made the all-tourney team, as did senior guard Tripp Doherty (10 points, including a pair of threes). Sophomore guard Mike Carbone also drained a pair of threes en route to a dozen points.
"It's good to get this back, especially after what happened last year," Doherty said, holding the championship trophy that went to Bishop Fenwick last year. "When we lost (the title game) last year, that was the beginning of our downspin. We didn't want that to happen this year."
Beverly received strong performances from Curtis Manuel (18 points), Felix Zamot (14), Mike Clayton (15), Justin Marrs (8) and George Kallas (5), who was a bull underneath.
Lewis started five seniors in a calculated effort to put some physical and mental toughness on the floor against superior talent and it worked in the first half, with the Prep forging a shaky 38-31 edge.
However, the game tilted heavily in the Prep's favor early in the third quarter. Connaughton, Haladyna and Conor Macomber ignited a 10-1 run that pushed it to 48-32, forcing a Beverly timeout. Carbone and Doherty each buried a three in the next few minutes and pretty soon the Eagles were up, 63-41.
"It became a shootout," said Connaughton. "There was no defense at all."
Haladyna was even more pointed. "We have to fix it," he said, knowing there's a huge showdown coming up against 19-1 Central Catholic tomorrow night in Lawrence.
Connolly was happy for Connaughton but also gave Beverly considerable credit for hanging around and making the Prep look bad on defense.
"Pat plays like that every night — he's been unbelievably consistent," said Connolly. "But let's face it; the Beverly guards (Manuel and Clayton) gave us a tough time tonight. Beverly kind of pushed us around as a team and their guards were terrific. They got anything they wanted all night. We didn't play any kind of defense and we won't be able to do that against Central Catholic."
Beverly, which ends the regular season tomorrow night against Salem, actually drew confidence from its effort against the Prep.