St John’s Boys Headed to Garden Final Friday

Continuing their romp through the playoffs, the St. John’s Eagles up-ended defending State Champions Central Catholic Tuesday night for the second time this year in a hotly contested semi-final game.

The Prep, walking away with a 63-60 win, heads to TD Garden on Friday for the Division I North Final versus the winner of the Lawrence/Lynn English game Wednesday night.

The Eagles’ Stephen Haladyna led team scorers with 24 points Tuesday, with Freddy Shove adding 15 along with tough defense on Central Catholic’s 6-foot-7 Jimmy Zenevitch, who scored 33 points for the Raiders. Prep senior standout Pat Connaughton scored 14 for the game.

The Prep, after winning a bye to the first round, last Friday, 80-59, before inflicting a Sunday, 70-56. Central Catholic was hungry for a rematch Tuesday night, having only lost to the Eagles by two points on Feb. 23.

And the Raiders did look poised to dethrone the No. 1 ranked team in the state several times throughout the evening at Lawrence High School. The Prep managed to hold onto that lead through all four quarters, however, with strong performances on all fronts.

At the half, the scoreboard read 39-31, St. John’s, and stayed that way until the fourth quarter. Central Catholic did draw within two and hovered around a three-point margin up until the buzzer.

The Prep hasn’t faced either of the two possible opponents from Wednesday’s semi-final yet this season.

Lynn English defeated Everett and Acton-Boxborough in the prior two rounds of play while Lawrence (the No. 15 seed), which offered up an unremarkable record this winter prior to the postseason, bested Chelmsford and then surprisingly Cambridge R&L (the No. 2 seed) in the first two rounds.