Maynard 61, Littleton 55: Fowler lifts Tigers

MAYNARD — With its season on the line and a berth in the Division 3 Central semifinals at stake, Maynard's boys basketball team turned to its star: Mike Fowler.The junior point guard responded in the clutch, scoring 13 fourth-quarter points, including an eventual game-winning 3-pointer with 32 seconds to play. Fowler's trey broke a 55-55 tie as the fourth-seeded Tigers went on to close out a 61-55 victory over fifth-seeded Littleton last night

."I just dribbled up and they were sagging off a little bit in a zone," said Fowler of his 3-pointer. "It was a shot I was making all year and I just figured I should take it again."Maynard (15-5) advances to the semifinals for the second straight year, and will face top-seeded Sutton Monday night at Clark University. Littleton ends the season 15-7.Fowler finished with a game-high 21 points and netted 13 of his team's 19 points in the final quarter. 

Maynard started strong and did not trail until midway through the fourth. That's when Littleton rallied to take its first lead of the game.But it was quickly erased.Littleton junior Jeff Bielefeld (19 points, 14 rebounds) gave the visitors a 47-46 lead with a free throw. After Bielefeld missed the next, Maynard senior Shaun Loughlin was fouled on the rebound. Loughlin then hit two free throws to put Maynard back in front, 48-47. Littleton took the lead again, 51-50, on two Bielefeld freebies, but Fowler answered seconds later with a 3."Fowler just has that mental edge, as soon as we scored he just pushes the ball faster,"

The combination of Bielefeld and junior Mac Hanlon (16 points, 9 rebounds) took over in the third to bring Littleton back."I think it was a case of nerves, I was proud of the way we bounced back," Lombard said of his team's slow start. "We had a distinct height advantage. I thought we should have done a better job with that."The post was an area of concern for Howes. His three keys before the game were: pressure the Littleton guards, rebound and hit free throws."With Fowler, the more we create the tempo the better it is for him," said Howes. "The battle of the boards is huge. The total was 33-30 (Littleton) but that's almost a win for us. Free throws ... we made some big ones at the end. We executed that pretty well. I can't tell you how much respect I have for Littleton."

Burlington 75 Beverly 72

Justin Fico scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Red Devils.

Ryan Putney (10 points) and Zach Hurynowicz (15 points) sank some key free throws down the stretch, while Matt Trahan (13 points) scored the basket that helped seal the victory with 13 seconds left to play.

Brendan Farley scored 17 points for Burlington (13-8). Burlington will play at North Andover in a quarterfinal game tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Free-throw woes doom Cambridge as English boys hoop advances

By Steve Krause / The Daily Item

Classical puts away Boston Latin

By Joyce Erekson / The Daily Item

LYNN -- It took a big run in the fourth quarter and a game-and-a half by Cam Smith, but the Classical High boys basketball team finally sent Boston Latin Academy packing, 75-62, in Division 1 North first-round action Tuesday at Classical.

Click here for a photo gallery from the game.

The Wolfpack had managed to cut the deficit to three points midway through the final quarter before the Rams went on an 18-2 run to put the game away. Classical will play the winner of Friday's Central Catholic vs. Somerville game Monday. Central Catholic is the No. 1 seed.

Smith was the real deal for the Rams, scoring 30 points to go with an exceptional defensive effort that included four steals.

"Cam had an outstanding game," Classical coach Tom Grassa said. "This was probably the best game he's ever played. Defensively he was everywhere."

Smith backboned the offensive effort in the first quarter, scoring 10 points, including a pair of threes that kept the Rams, who didn't take the lead until 1:19, in the hunt. Smith scored the last seven points of the quarter for Classical.Boston Latin trimmed the deficit to one right before the end of the half, only to see Classical pull away again when Jasper Grassa (16 points) hit Tony Wonde under the basket for two and then stole the ball with 12 seconds left and scored. Classical led 31-26 at the half.

Grassa said he scouted the Wolfpack and knew one of the keys would be stopping or at least slowing down senior forward Christian Onuoha, who can inflict some serious damage in the paint. Chris Francois and Wonde had the task of keeping him in check and they did, holding Onuoha to nine points.

Boston Latin senior forward Sean Deery was also a thorn in the Rams' side, scoring a team-high 16 points. He had four threes in the second half to keep the Wolfpack in the game.

Acton-Boxboro bests St. John's

The Lowell Sun

Posted: 02/24/2009 06:41:35 AM EST

ACTON -- The Acton-Boxboro High boys basketball team built a 12-point (35-23) lead at the half, and never let visiting St. John's Prep of Danvers get any closer than 10 points in the final two quarters on the way to a 76-60 MIAA Division 1 North Tournament preliminary round triumph last night.

Boys basketball

Veteran A-B coach Rick Kilpatrick said, "The key was our tough rebounding. It was a huge factor. They're 6-foot-11, 6-8 and 6-6 across the front, but we held a 29-23 edge off the boards tonight."

Senior guard Kyle Curry paced four A-B players into double digits with 17 points, while sophomore forward Wes Schroll added 16, senior guard Chris Jordan 12 (all in second half) and junior guard John Williamson 10.

Brett Miller added 9 points and senior forward Alex Kastrinelis tore down 9 rebounds for the victors (14-8).

Littleton 65 Bromfield 48

The Tigers (15-6) placed five players in double figures -- with that quintet accounting for all the points in a first-round victory over familiar Midland-Wachusett League D Division foe