RallyNorth.net

Tue, Feb 26, 2008 07:00 PM @ St. John's

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game Division 1 North - Preliminary Round
Malden Catholic	18	12	13	14	57
St. John's	19	12	13	15	59

Felder's heroics lift St. John's Prep basketball to biggest win

Tuesday, February, 26 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

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.

How big -- and rare -- was this tournament win for the Prep? Well, since 1992, the Eagles were 3-12 in tourney openers, and they hadn't won one since 2003 (62-53 over Acton-Boxboro).

But this time they came through as Felder's two foul shots with 1:02 left turned out to be the difference.

Still, the suspense in the final four seconds had to be excruciating for the Eagles and their fans. Trailing 59-57, Malden Catholic had the final shot and their most deadly shooter, Cory Ryser (15 points on five 3-pointers), in position, but the shot bounced off the rim and the clock ran out.

"That shot seemed like it was in slow motion," said Felder, who had 13 points, 10 assists and the willpower that seemingly tipped the scale toward the Eagles. "The ball was in the air a long time."

Senior guard Ryan O'Connell, the school's all-time leading scorer who got off to a sensational start (13 points in the first quarter) and finished with 21, was emotionally drained and energized at the same time. He had seen too many of these slip away in his career. But this time the Eagles really hung tough.

Andrew Knight, who drew the demanding defensive assignment against MC's agile 6-foot-5 forward Clifford Bonner-Desravines (12 points), chipped in 11 points before fouling out, and Sam Baker had eight points before he, too, fouled out. At the end, the Prep had a freshman, two sophomores and two seniors on the floor.

"My sophomore and junior years, those were the two most heartbreaking losses," said O'Connell, referring to the Prep's troubles in the postseason. "Tonight it was like lifting the curse of the Red Sox (in 2004). It's an awesome feeling. Guys played great off the bench after our starters fouled out, and Brendon (Felder) was a monster for us the entire game. He didn't play not to lose, he played to win. He told me we were not going to lose this game."

It was never safe or comfortable for the Eagles. St. John's led 19-18 after one, 31-30 at halftime and 44-43 after three quarters. At one point, Malden Catholic put together a 16-2 run to obliterate a 19-12 deficit, but the Eagles bounced back with a momentum-changing 7-0 spurt on baskets by Baker, O'Connell (3-pointer) and Knight.

The Eagles managed to push the lead to five, 48-43, on a Knight basket early in the fourth. Malden Catholic kept chipping away, but the Lancers couldn't contain Felder's stupendous quickness and desire down the stretch.

Felder finished off a fast break for a 55-53 lead with 2:10 left, converted another opportunity to make it 57-54 with 1:31 remaining and buried the two free throws to stretch it to 59-54 with 1:02 left.

Malden Catholic's Matt Carregal came up with a conventional 3-point play to cut it to 59-57 with 46.7 seconds remaining and Felder then missed the front end of two 1-and-1 opportunities in the final 31 seconds.

However, Felder more than atoned for it with something that never shows up in the box score -- a near steal and deflection that ate up precious seconds on Malden Catholic's last possession. By the time Felder's head-first dive carried him out of bounds with the ball, Malden Catholic had just four seconds left.

"I'd say that was probably the biggest play of the game," Malden Catholic coach Craig Moody said of Felder's deflection. "He made a lot of big plays for them. We let him get in too deep on his penetration and he got key baskets."

Felder nearly ended up crashing into Prep coach Dan Letarte's knees in his all-out effort for a clean steal.

"I don't think it was Brendon's best game, but it was a great clutch performance," said Letarte. "If he'd come up with the steal, the game would've been over because no one would've caught him. But it was fantastic hustle, a fantastic play.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't think about any of that first round (losing) stuff," added Letarte. "It's just a great win for these seniors, playing in the final home game of their careers. This building was electric tonight and our whole team did a great job of finishing the game when it was on the line."

St. John's Prep is unquestionably the underdog going into Everett tomorrow night, but the Eagles can build on this one. It's their biggest win in years.