Watertown 59, Lexington 58: Finishing touch

His only goal last night was to simply suit up and play well. But he ended up sinking the most important basket of the undefeated Raiders' season thus far.

After taking a feed from junior forward Cory Stockmal in the lane, Tolman sank a soft, 10-foot jumper with 3.3 seconds left to cap a 6-0 run over the last 1:25 that erased a 58-53 deficit and handed Watertown a 59-58 road victory over the Minutemen last night. Though he appeared to stutter-step slightly, drawing vehement protests from the Lexington bench, the referees called no travel. After Raider senior Jesse Brackett stole Lexington's inbounds pass, the Watertown bench spilled on the court to celebrate the improbable comeback win.

Tolman's clutch bucket bumped his point total to four on the evening with his last hoop coming 27 minutes earlier at the 5:31 mark of the first quarter. But Tolman added nine rebounds in his first game back from injury, while icing perhaps the Raiders' most satisfying victory of the season.

``I wasn't thinking about the traveling call, but somebody asked me afterwards if I did and I said: `Yeah, I think so', but they didn't call it, so I might have gotten away with one,'' Tolman confessed. ``It was a great atmosphere in the lockerroom, much better than after we lost to them last year. To be down like that and show that kind of resilience is amazing.''

ML leading scorer Kyle Stockmal battled through illness to score a team-high 18 points - 14 in the first half - to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Cory Stockmal also finished with 18 points after recovering from a tough first half to score 15 points after the break. Junior point guard Benyam Kerman had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists before fouling with 2:31 to play, while Brackett had all eight of his points in the second half as the normally sweet-shooting Raiders shook off a dismal performance from the field and at the foul line.

Watertown hit only 25-of-68 field goals (37 percent), 5-of-22 (23 percent) from 3-point land and 6-of-13 (46 percent) from the line, received no bench points and turned the ball over 15 times. But the Raiders' vaunted defense picked up the slack, causing 21 turnovers.

``Our defense, in particular, was terrific,'' said Watertown coach Steve Harrington. ``It allowed us to withstand what could have been better runs because we got some stops on defense.''

Last night's victory kept Watertown's record spotless at 18-0, clinched at least a share of its first ML title since 2004-2005 and ended Lexington's 50-plus game winning streak at home. The Raiders also completed a two-game sweep of their chief ML nemeses following a 74-64 home win Jan. 4 and atoned for last year's sweep at the hands of the Minutemen. Perched atop the ML at 15-0, the reigning Division 3 state champions hold a three-game lead over the Minutemen (13-4, 12-3 ML) with three league games remaining and can clinch the crown outright with a victory over Woburn Friday night at 7 p.m. With three more victories, the Raiders, winners of 25 straight dating back to last season, will cap their first perfect regular season since 2000.

``We've had a terrific rivalry with them, so to come in here and be able to sneak out with a win is great,'' said Harrington. ``(Lexington) played great defense and we struggled offensively. It wasn't pretty for us, but we made some plays down the stretch.''

Watertown's perfect run seemed to be going down in flames throughout much of the last half of the fourth quarter as Lexington senior point guard Scott Tavares (18 points overall) scored nine of his 13 second-half points in the last frame. With the Raiders clamping down on junior Dan O'Keefe (game-high 19 points, four in second half), sophomore marksman Jeremy Moss came off the bench with eight points (two 3-pointers) after the break, five in the fourth quarter.

After Moss began the fourth with a foul-line jumper and canned a trey on the next possession, O'Keefe's right elbow jumper gave Lexington its first lead since a 4-2 cushion at 5:52 of the first quarter. David Miller's foul-line jumper and a Scott Tavares free throw pushed the Lexington lead to 50-45 advantage - the largest of the game - with 4:49 left. Cory Stockmal buried a trey and Benyam Kerman stole the inbounds pass and converted the layup on the to make it 50-50 at 4:08, but the Minutemen made another push as Tavares knocked down both ends of a one-and-one and Kerman fouled out on an offensive foul before Tavares splashed a deep jumper for a 56-50 Lexington lead at 2:17. Cory Stockmal then cut it to 56-53 with a triple on a third-chance shot at 1:51 before Tavares dropped two more free throws for a 58-53 Minuteman bulge at 1:31.

That set up the climactic Raider spurt as Cory Stockmal (10 fourth-quarter points) responded with a layup at 1:25, Watertown forced a turnover and Brackett made it 58-57 with a putback of a missed Kyle Stockmal trey attempt with 41.5 seconds remaining. Despite a non-charge call on Tavares when he lowered his shoulder into Cory Stockmal at halfcourt on the ensuing possession, Watertown got the ball back with Tolman's bucket providing the game-winner.

``When Cory hit that trey and Benyam stole the inbounds was a key point in the game,'' said Harrington. ``And then they got another five-point lead and Cory hit another three. We had a chance at the end and that's all you're looking for is a chance.''