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Smith, Central down Prep in OT

DANVERS — St. John’s Prep was up by at least seven on multiple occasions in the second half but it never really felt like things were locked up.

And sure enough, visiting Central Catholic made its push in crunch time.

Perhaps the biggest momentum swinger came when Central’s Colin Bradanese calmly drilled a corner triple with under two minutes to play to knot things up. The score was deadlocked at 53 at the end of regulation, before the Eagles’ fell victim to a hot-shooting Raiders squad in the extra frame, 69-62.

Central seemingly couldn’t miss Sunday in the four-minute OT. That avenged the Raiders’ 80-68 loss to the Prep in the finals of the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic.

“This is a big win for us,” said Central coach John Walsh, who won three state titles in six seasons at nearby Danvers High. “St. John’s is such a talented team and have such a great program. Anytime you can compete with them and beat them in their own gym is a great thing.”

While Bradanese was the hero in regulation, it was George Smith (14 points) who sealed the deal in overtime. The sophomore sharpshooter drilled a pair of 3-balls in the decisive frame, including a corner and-1 trey that gave the Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 66-55.

St. John’s Prep coach John Dullea said, “They’re a tough team, very physical, and nothing came easy today. I think we left a lot of points on the board, especially early on.”

For the Prep, Nate Hobbs threw down a two-handed dunk in traffic in the opening half before finishing with 18 points. Commonwealth Classic MVP Tommy O’Neil, a 6-8 senior, had 19 points and 12 rebounds but it was much more difficult this time. The 6-5 Bradanese had to sit out the Christmas Tourney title game.

The Prep’s Jarnel Snow-Guzman banked in a deep running 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer and put the Eagles (9-4) up five at the break, while Christian Lamers did the same with a jumper at the end of the third.

Junior Kevin Constant was phenomenal for CCHS (11-3), scoring a game-high 21 points in a variety of ways, while Bret Edwards made some clutch plays en route to an 11-point effort.

O’Neil had a chance to give SJP the lead back with five seconds to play in regulation, but a tough lay-up in traffic fell just short.

Central Catholic 69, St. John’s Prep 62

Central Catholic (69): Smith 14, Constant 21, Keegan 5, Edwards 11, Bradanese 11, Homsey 2, Sanchez 5, Lara 0, Kalala 0. Totals 23-17-69

St. John’s Prep (62): Snow-Guzman 10, O’Neil 19, Sweetnam 2, Lamers 5, Hobbs 18, Relihan 6, Batchelder 2, Plourde 0, Callahan 0. Totals: 21-14-62.

3-pointers: CCHS: Smith 3, Keegan, Bradanese, Sanchez; SJP: Snow-Guzman 2, O’Neil 2, Lamers, Relihan

Central (11-3, 8-1 MVC):     11 10 12 20 16 — 69

St. John’s (9-4):      7 19 14 13  9 — 62