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Dan Letarte sounded almost like a football coach after his St. John's Prep Eagles got overpowered by once-beaten Everett, 98-77, in a Division 1 North first round basketball matchup last night at Everett.

DANVERS -- It's over.

St. John's Prep's opening-game postseason jinx -- and all the negativity that goes with it -- was wiped out here last night.

Led by sophomore point guard Brendon Felder, who took charge of the game when the Eagles had to have it down the stretch, St. John's Prep shaded Malden Catholic, 59-57, in a tense and electrifying Division 1 preliminary round game. The Prep now moves on to play No. 3 seed Everett (17-1) on the road tomorrow night.

Let the real season begin.

Central Catholic put the finishing touches on an impressive 19-2 regular-season campaign, dusting St. John's Prep in a 75-56 state tourney tune-up before about 1,000 fans last night at Memorial Gym.

Too many big guys. Too much firepower. Too much defensive muscle. Too much of everything.

The St. John's Prep Eagles had so many advantages in the North Shore Invitational final last night that Bishop Fenwick needed to play a near perfect game to win. The Crusaders didn't come close to playing their best, however, and St. John's Prep was largely responsible for that development in a 69-38 win that gave the Eagles their eighth invitational championship in 11 years.

Ryan O'Connell had a lot of basketball fans on his side last night in his successful quest to become the all-time leading scorer at St. John's Prep.

First, there was his family. Then there was head coach Dan Letarte and the rest of the St. John's Prep team. The vast majority of the Ipswich High basketball team also showed up to see O'Connell, who lives in Ipswich.

St. John's Prep basketball standout Ryan O'Connell was watching an alumni game in the school's gymnasium two years ago when he noticed a big man displaying an extraordinary shooting touch from outside.

The St. John's Prep basketball team couldn't be blamed for sleepwalking in the first quarter last night while playing its fourth game in six days.

"But we answered the ring of the bell," Prep coach Dan Letarte said after the Eagles overcame a 16-point deficit and took out Malden Catholic, 75-66, on the road. St. John's won all four games in the six-day span and is now 9-5.

Some might consider a full week of preparation the ideal situation before playing Catholic Conference power Catholic Memorial.

But not St. John's Prep coach Dan Letarte. The extra time only gave him more opportunity to agonize over three straight losses.

Turnovers. St. John's Prep boys basketball head coach Dan Letarte cringed when he heard the word.

"We had too many. Twenty five," Letarte said as he flipped through his scorebook. "That is unacceptable against a great team like B.C. High."

For much of last night's game, the shots were not falling for St. John's Prep senior Ryan O'Connell.

Needing 18 points to reach 1,000 for his career, O'Connell was forcing shots that weren't falling early on. But with the contest on the line, the Bowdoin College-bound senior from Ipswich delivered.