Jared Lewis Seals Malden Catholic Win With Free Throws

The Malden Catholic boys basketball team looked like it would cruise to an easy win over Somerville on Tuesday night. But after trailing by 12 heading into the fourth quarter, the Highlanders sprang to life, and came within two points of tying the game before the Lancers were able to fend them off for the 63-59 win in what turned out to be a thriller at the Somerville Field House. 

"It was a tough loss," said Somerville coach Mark Antonelli. "You know what, that's a well-coached team. I have all the respect in the world for (Malden Catholic coach) Jim Silvio. I tip my hat to them, that's not a slouch team by any means. They came to play and they took it to us."

Somerville led 18-16 after the first quarter, but Malden Catholic began to press the Highlanders up and down the court for much of the game, and held Somerville to 12 points in the second quarter and just eight points in the third quarter. 

The Highlanders looked confused at times and began turning the ball over with travel calls and several passes that sailed out of bounds. 

"The thing I was disappointed with the most tonight was that I felt like we were in the right positions offensively and defensively, I felt like on offense we were panicking with the basketball," said Antonelli. "We had to have 30 or 40 turnovers, just unforced turnovers, just throwing the ball away and panicking."

Somerville turned things around in the fourth quarter, however, and put up 21 points behind some quality shooting from senior guard Skerby Odivin and junior guard Stanley Julce, who hit a pair of big three-pointers to cut Malden Catholic's lead to 61-59 with 1:22 remaining in the fourth.

But a pair of foul shots from junior guard Jared Lewis sealed it for the Lancers. 

"It was tough," said Lewis. "We played good defense actually, I actually had to play. They were good. We hung in there. We should have put the game away in the beginning of the second half."

Julce and Odivin finished with 13 points and 12 points respectively, while junior guards Kevin Silva and Billy Bonnet both had nine points. 

"We showed some toughness coming back," said Antonelli. "(Julce) came up big in the fourth quarter. He's one of our new guys. He's still trying to find his way out there. We have three or four guys that are playing big minutes that have never been in our program before. He shot the ball great at the end of the game. He showed a lot of moxie stepping up and banging shots." 

Senior forward Domenick Mastascusa was a force for the Lancers, racking up 21 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Lewis also had a big game with 17 points, including six in the fourth quarter when Mastascusa left the game. 

"We were tired and they came to play obviously," said Lewis. "(Mastascusa) is our good player and when he fouled out it was tough. I had to step up and our team had to step up and we got off with a win." 

The Lancers will look to make it two in a row when they play Somerville again, this time at home on Friday at 7 p.m.