Brighton Drops C-C, 58-48, in Sectional Tournament

Brighton High School’s Malik James sank the definition of a dagger against High School.

With 48 seconds remaining in the MIAA North Division 2 sectional tournament contest, and the Bengals struggling to fend off C-C, James nailed a straightaway 3-pointer from three feet behind the arc as the shot clock buzzer sounded. James couldn’t have planned it better if he was playing a pickup game in his driveway.

Though time remained, the deep 3 sank all hopes of an upset for the No. 9 Patriots, as No. 8 Brighton held on for the 58-48 victory in the First Round matchup at Boston Latin Academy on Wednesday night.

For C-C, it was a bitter end to an otherwise successful season, Cohen said.

“It’s a tough way to end,” Patriots coach David Cohen said after the game. “We came in here expecting to win, and I think we certainly showed flashes that we should’ve won. So it was a tough ending for us after a good season.”

For Brighton, the 3-pointer was part of a 14-0 run to close out the game. In fact, C-C failed to score again after Dana Hines increased his team’s lead to four points with 4 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.

Following Hines’ bucket (he had a chance to make it a three-point play, but missed the free throw), Brighton’s Daivon Edwards (team-high 17 points) drilled a 3-pointer to make it 48-47 Patriots.

Then the game turned into the Malik James Show, as he scored the next nine points. He hit back-to-back jumpers inside the free-throw line to make it 51-48 Bengals, and then added his long-range 3-pointer that put his team up six.

But James wasn’t done there. With 33 seconds to go, he drove the lane and added two more points on a lay-in. At that point it was 56-48 Brighton, and C-C was forced to foul to have a chance.

Kevon Young was tied up with 13 seconds remaining and hit both foul shots to bring it to the final score of 58-48.

Brighton will move on to the Quarterfinal Round, where it will face either No. 1 Wilmington High School or No. 16 Winchester High School. Those two will play their First Round matchup on Thursday night.

The game didn’t start well for Concord-Carlisle, either. It struggled from the field early in the first quarter and ended the period down 17-10. The Patriots picked up the pace in the second, but still entered the half down 31-23.

Something clicked to start the third quarter, especially for Edwin Delva. The Patriot burst out of the break on fire, scoring nine of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter.

Delva’s scoring and a newfound defensive touch turned the tide of the game. C-C held Brigton to seven points in the period, while scoring 13 of its own to enter the fourth quarter down just two at 38-36.

“I thought going in at halftime we felt good,” Cohen said. “The score didn’t really indicate how well we were playing.

“I think we really just played our game (in the third),” the coach added. “You know, you come out for the tournament and everyone was a little too hyped up.”

The Patriots took their first lead of the game at 41-40 when Bobby Lania (five points) hit a 3-pointer 2:19 into the fourth quarter. Brighton’s Edward Toney came right back for a basket the next time down the floor, but it did little to deter C-C.

A 3-poiner from Delva with 5:18 remaining pushed the Patriots’ lead to 44-42. It reached 46-42 shortly after when Hines (eight points) added a close-range bucket.

Hines’ next basket would cap the Patriots’ scoring before James took over.

Brima Rogers had eight points for C-C, while Henry Bumpus scored four and Evan Boynton added three.