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Magic's Mark MacDonald, Lew Finnegan, Zack Friedman lead Lexington Over Watertown and Casey Brackett. Also Magic's Anderson and
By Dan Ventura, Wednesday, Feb 12, 2003
Watertown was done in by the dreaded Mac attack. Lexington junior center Mark MacDonald scored his team's first 22 points and finished with a career-best 38 as the Minutemen knocked off the fifth-ranked Red Raiders, 73-63, in a Middlesex League showdown for first place last night in Watertown.
``Mark played a brilliant game,'' said Lexington coach Bob Farias. ``He took the challenge and came up really big for us.''
In the schools' first meeting (a 73-53 Watertown win), Red Raiders center Jared Miller was the dominant player in the paint. But last night, Miller picked up two quick fouls in the first 26 seconds and the Minutemen (16-3, 16-1) took full advantage. MacDonald hit 10 of his first 11 shots and personally held a 22-21 lead over Watertown, until sophomore Zach Friedman snapped the run with a trey with 4:36 left in the half.
``I knew I had knocked off a bunch of points,'' said MacDonald, who added 11 rebounds. ``I was just in a zone. Everything I threw up was going in.''
Lexington took a 35-30 lead into the intermission and held the margin until Watertown senior guard Casey Brackett (15 points and 10 assists) took a long feed from backcourt partner Tony Murgo (25 points) and converted a layup to tie the score at 44-44 with 10:30 remaining.
There would be three more ties before MacDonald put Lexington ahead for good, 55-54, on a short turnaround in the lane. Down the stretch, the Minutemen got huge contributions from Dam Holbrook (13 points and 16 rebounds) and Lew Finnegan (nine points and nine assists), as well as clutch jumpers from Ryan Phelan and Friedman.
``(Lexington's) tough, you pick your poison against them,'' said Watertown coach Steve Harrington, whose team fell to 17-2 overall, 15-2 ML. ``We went zone on one possession and they hit a 3, so I still think we played them the right way. The big difference this time is that they did a better job of moving the ball around to get it into MacDonald.''
In a nonleague thriller, senior center Grant Anderson scored seven of his 22 points in overtime as St. John's Prep (11-5) stunned No. 4 Charlestown, 71-68. Chris Dowd added 12 points, while Jon Goff came off the bench to add 11 for the Eagles.
``This is the biggest win I've had in my seven years,'' said Eagles coach Dan Letarte. ``But I'm just so happy for my kids, it's a great win for them.''
Junior center Darryl Lodge led the way for Charlestown (15-2) with 20 points, while Derek Coleman added 12.