By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Boston English (3-1) at O’Bryant (5-0), 4 p.m. Tuesday
If English wants to make a run at the Boston City League South title this will be their first shot of the year to take knock the undefeated Tigers off their perch at the top of the division.

This should be a pretty big offensive battle as O’Bryant scores 63.2 points per game and English averages 50.5 points per game.

English is also looking to wipe away the sour taste of an overtime loss to West Roxbury right before the holiday break. After opening the season with three straight victories,
English lost to West Roxbury, 54-50, on Dec. 21.

Madison Park (0-4) at Fenway (4-1), 6 p.m. Wednesday
Madison Park is still searching for its first win of the season but they have been in every game besides a season-opening loss to Ursuline.

The Cardinals only lost to South Boston by five points and Latin Academy by three points before falling to Milton, 48-37, on Dec. 27.

An upset against the top team in the north division would be a huge feather in the Cardinals’ cap.

Fenway has only lost to Reading this season and nobody has even gotten close to them in the city league so far.

O’Bryant (5-0) at New Mission (1-1), 6 p.m. Friday
This is a potential city championship matchup and should be the first true test of the season for both squads.

It's O’Bryant’s first time traveling to New Mission’s new gym at the former Hyde Park Education Complex so that could provide an edge to the Titans. But the Tigers have done well on both of their away games so far this season at Dorchester and West Roxbury.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

O’Bryant at Boston English, 6 p.m., Tuesday:
In this central division clash of the Boston City League, O'Bryant coach Drew Hughes-Brock will hope that his team can keep its winning-streak alive against the high-scoring Bulldogs. O’Bryant (4-2) hasn’t lost a game since Dec. 19, beating Latin Academy (44-39), Nantucket (63-53), and Madison Park (45-43).

For Boston English (4-3), the game will be more challenging than their previous 38-point win against Southeastern. In fact, the Bulldogs haven’t won a game by less than 19 points this season.

O’Bryant will look to change that as their defense only allows 55 points-a-game, making them the fourth best defense in the City League.

No. 18 East Boston at No. 9 New Mission, 6 p.m., Wednesday
Both of these ranked teams are coming off games that went down to the wire. East Boston’s (5-2) last win against Everett was decided by just a point, 49-48.

New Mission (4-3) will look to their high-scoring offense (72.6 points per game) to bounce back from its loss against Windsor (74-71).

A win would be crucial for both teams, with both at the top of a 4-way tie in the city's north division.

No. 9 New Mission at No. 15 Madison Park, 6 p.m., Friday
This is a huge game for Madison Park as the Cardinals are still pursuing the .500 mark. Aside from a 16-point loss to Dorchester, both of coach Dennis Wilson’s team’s losses have been decided by one or two possessions.

Madison Park should expect another competitive contest against a New Mission team that has yet to find a defense it can’t break down.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at zolankannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter href="http://twitter.com/kannoyoungs">@kannoyoungs.

David Stewart, left, and his brother, David Stewart, right, pose for a picture after a South Boston basketball game. The Stewarts' have the same name but different mothers. One plays for Madison Park while the other plays for South Boston.(Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Anyone who has followed Boston public schools sports the last few years probably knows the name David Stewart.

The Madison Park senior football player and basketball player made a name for himself in the Cardinals' run to the Division 1 South sectional championship as a tough-as-nails cleanup man under the boards. He was just as hard-nosed for Madison Park’s football team in its run to the Division 4A Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium this fall.

But the name David Stewart means something entirely different at South Boston High.
That’s because the Knights have their own David Stewart, a 6-foot-7-inch center playing his first season of varsity basketball.

And what most people don’t realize is that the two Stewarts don't just share the same name, they share the same father as well.

“It’s a good name, I love the name,” said the boys’ father who is also named, you guessed it, David Stewart — well David Stewart, Sr. “It’s a strange thing but it’s a good thing.

"My father always said ‘When you call one, you want both of their attention.’ ”

The 18-year-olds are technically half brothers, but judging from the frequency they text message each other and the competitiveness of their one-on-one battles on the basketball court and in video games, there’s no telling the difference.

“It’s my brother, I talk to him every day,” said the Stewart who attends South Boston and is older by a few months. “Well, really, text message; I don’t really talk to him, he gets annoying.”

Spoken like a true older brother.

But the older brother still has followed his younger brother’s career at Madison Park pretty closely.

“At the end of the day that’s still my brother, you gotta be his No. 1 fan,” he said.

They both live in Dorchester with their respective mothers but have a close relationship with their father, who also lives in Dorchester. Their grandmother calls them David 1 and David 2.

David Stewart Sr. said when the younger David's mom asked him about naming their son David, he said he already had a son named David but if she was comfortable with it he would be too.

“To me, in our family, they are brothers. That’s how we leave it, we never said 'half-brothers' but brothers,” said senior. “We treat both the same. When I go out and buy them things I buy them the same thing just different colors.

“I think as brothers they love each other, they respect each other and I’m proud of that. When they were younger, there were little rifts but nothing [major]. I’ve been pretty fortunate.”

They attended different elementary and middle schools growing up and have two different groups of friends. Eventually friends found out they had a brother with the same name. But while a joke might be made here and there, they both said nobody gave them a hard time.

When their social scenes do mixed up, nobody knows they are brothers at first because the elder Stewart mostly goes by “Bones,” thanks to his tall and skinny frame.

“At first, nobody knew we were brothers but it caught on,” the younger Stewart said. “Some people would say our name and both of us would look at them. That’s how they caught on. People are like, ‘Who named you that,' and I’m like ‘Our father.’ And they just start laughing.”

Growing up, the older Stewart always dominated his brother in one-on-one basketball, especially because he played in middle school while his younger brother didn’t pick up organized basketball until freshman year.

“He would dominate me, if we did one-on-one he’d win by three points or two points till I started practicing on my own and I got better,” said the younger Stewart, noting that he didn’t finally beat his brother until they were both 15 years old.

Ironically, the younger Stewart was always bigger than his brother until the older Stewart hit his growth spurt in 10th grade and jumped up to 6-7. His 6-3 younger brother is still nothing to sneeze at in the height department.

“I gotta look up to him now,” the younger Stewart said. “When we was younger, even though he was older, he was looking up to me.”

And now that they are both finally playing varsity athletics at the same time, they don’t get to play against each other because Madison Park and South Boston don’t play under the new division realignment for boys’ basketball in the city league.

“I’m a little bummed because I like going to Madison and playing there,” the elder Stewart said. “It’s intense and I like the competition.”

Their father is proud that both his sons have found their way athletically but he also hopes that they find their way in life as well.

“They’ve been doing pretty well sports wise and things,” he said. “I just also want them to stay focused on their learning and always have something to fall back on. I’m a contractor. I work with my hands. I think if these guys do good there’s a chance they could work with their brains and not with their hands.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Dorchester shooting guard Jeduan Langston, No. 1, dribbles through the Cambridge defense. (Pavel Dzemianok / For
the Boston Globe)

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

In a game that didn’t lack a possession where a player fell hard and came up slow, Dorchester (1-3, 1-1 Central) could not fight through a 5-point halftime deficit due to a solid Cambridge (1-2) defense and lost to the Falcons 58-51. 

Dorchester coach Johnny Williams said that the loss was not a matter of talent but rather a lack of mental strength in a physical game. 

“We got a little unfocused, we were worried about a couple of questionable calls where a couple kids were complaining about getting smacked but they didn’t play through it,” Williams said. 

One player who did play through it was senior Jeduan Langston. The shooting guard led the way for the Bears, scoring nine of his 22 points in a late fourth quarter surge. 

Dorchester began the quarter down 39-30 but went on a 5-0 run that began with a Langston layup. 

The guard than hit the floor hard on a take to the basket and had to come out of the game for nearly four minutes after hitting one of two at the line. 

“He still played tough in the end. When he was [broken], he wanted to be in there. He might be out a game or two but his heart? You can’t take that away,” said Williams. 

Dorchester managed to score 21 points in the quarter but it was not enough against a Cambridge team that managed to put up 19 points to close out the game. The Falcons were led by senior guard Robell Gebeyehu with 16 points, including two 3-pointers. 

The game was really decided in the second quarter, when the Bears were held to just 5 points compared to 15 for Cambridge, bringing them in to the half down 23-18. 

“[We had] better rotations, guys [were] pressuring the ball a little bit better. We still cannot allow the basketball to go all the way to the cup as it did,” said Cambridge coach Lance Dottin. 

However, Dottin felt the same as Williams in terms of the physicality of the game getting out of hand. 

“I thought it was physical on both sides. There was a little bit too much that was allowed in terms of contact.”

Cambridge was able to hold it together though and use the physicality to its advantage, with 15 of the team's 19 fourth-quarter points coming from the line. That’s more than Dorchester had in the last three quarters combined.

“We work on that. That’s something we pride ourselves with, being mentally tough,” Williams said. “I’m dealing with 17-year-old kids, I’m expecting them to be mentally tough but there’s only so much a kid can take before they break.”

Dorchester will hope to regain its mental strength and remain stable in the team's next city game against East Boston, slated for 5:30 p.m. Jan. 23.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can
be reached at zolankannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter @kannoyoungs.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Scholar Athletes Program recently released eligibility rates for its varsity scholar-athletes during the fall sports season.

The nonprofit organization designed to support Boston public school athletics reported that 97 percent of all scholar athletes from exam schools (Boston Latin, Latin Academy and the John D. O’Bryant School) remained eligible during the fall season while 84 percent of their counterparts from non-exam schools were eligible.

Three years ago, the BSA established learning centers for athletes at each of Boston’s 19 public high schools called Zones. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Suffolk Construction CEO and chairman John Fish collaborated to create the BSA after The Boston Globe ran a seven-part series in 2009 on the sad state of the district's athletic program called "Failing our Athletes."

Each Zone also has its own Zone facilitator that works the scholar athletes and other Zone members to help them academically. The district-wide eligibility standard for athletes is a 1.67 GPA (a C-minus average) but some schools hold their athletes to higher standards.

BSA Academic Associate Colin Campbell noted that eligibility rates were down slightly this fall because they made a concerted effort to target student athletes that have struggled to maintain eligibility in the past. That was coupled with an overall 13.4 percent increase in athletic participation this fall compared to fall 2011.

“Inherently when you do that you may have more students lose eligibility during the season,” Campbell said during a telephone interview on Friday afternoon. “We really worked with them to get the in the Zone, we worked with the coaches and the staff … those are the students that need the most support in order to stay eligible and be a part of that team.

“That increase in Zone members, we’re happy with it because shows our program is really catching on and it shows we are able to reach more of the student athletes from the academic side.”

Campbell also noted that the numbers are not final because some "incompletes" will be resolved this term.

Nevertheless, one area of improvement was eligibility among football players at exam schools, which increased from 85 percent to 98 percent this fall.

“That was something we were very happy about, something we were very happy about four our facilitators at those schools,” Campbell said.

The real stars of the report were female athletes as 99 percent of all exam school female soccer players, 93 percent of exam school cheerleaders and 92 percent of exam school volleyball players remained eligible this fall.

At non-exam schools girls had a 91 percent eligibility rate in both soccer and volleyball.

Girls also maintained high academic standards despite seeing a 14.1 percent jump in soccer participation from last fall and a 16.2 percent jump in girls volleyball participation.

The lowest eligibility rate (75 percent), however, was among cheerleaders at non-exam schools, who with a 75 percent eligibility rate fared slightly worse than football players at non-exam schools (78 percent).

“We have to continue to target those girls and make sure we get to them in the preseason and into the Zone,” BSA Executive Director Rebekah Splaine Salwasser said during a telephone interview. “Fall is always tough because you come right in [from summer break] and start a sport and it’s a cumulative of grades [that determines eligibility.]

“We have to do a better job this winter and spring making sure their cumulative GPA keeps them eligible for the fall.”

The BSA also saw an increase in participation in its preseason clinics with a total of 1,653 athletes taking part in those clinics. The BSA has also made a concerted effort to make sure that both girls and boys sports have an equal number of clinics and combines.

"Every athlete in the city, and coach, has had an opportunity to participate in a sports specific clinic as well as our general summer fitness clinic," Campbell said.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

After spending three seasons at Boston English High, Chris Boswell will not return for a fourth as head football coach. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Boston English High is searching for just its third head football coach in 38 years after Chris Boswell was released from the position last month.

Former Natick High coach Tom Lamb, an assistant at English the past few seasons, is leading the search. Lamb, a member of the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, said he is trying to keep the players in the weight room and in study hall until a new coach is hired.

“I’m hoping to stay a part of the program,” Lamb said during a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. “I’m trying to be that consistent piece right now to hold them into football, keep them involved. … I wish I was younger because I have the spirit but I’m in a situation where I enjoy helping a lot but we’re looking for a younger coach for the future.

“Bos did a nice job and the kids loved him. We made some progress but it didn’t work out.”

Boswell, who went 4-27 over three seasons after replacing the retired Keith Parker, said he was released from his duties Dec. 17.

“It is what it is, I’m not vengeful or upset,” Boswell said. “It was a great opportunity and a lot of fun. I wanted to stay.”

English finished this past season 3-7 after a 44-15 loss to rival Boston Latin on
Thanksgiving Day at Harvard Stadium.

The program seemed to be on the mend earlier in the year. There was a 14-6 victory over New Mission, a first-year program. The following week, English shut out South Boston, 14-0, followed by a spirited 22-14 overtime loss to O’Bryant. English bounced back to beat Charlestown, 38-8, before losing, 6-0, to Madison Park — a team that lost in the Super Bowl.

Boswell, who has taught physical education the last four years at the Edison K-8 School, was a longtime assistant coach at Thayer Academy before taking his first head coaching job at English. He said he might land an assistant job in the fall or take a season off from coaching.

Lamb said anyone interested in applying for the Boston English job should e-mail a cover letter and resume to Lamb621@yahoo.com and to the school’s athletic coordinator, Barry Robinson, at blr263@gmail.com.

“We made a small step [last season] and we’ll see if we can make another major step,” Lamb said. “So we’re trying not to be too specific. We’re looking for a real good coach to take us to the next level. You don’t want to get too specific in details because good coaches come from all kinds of backgrounds.”

Robinson said he's looking for a coach who can improve the program's lackluster headcount over the last few seasons.

"I would like to see whoever comes in, to be honest with you, show me 30 to 40 boys," Robinson said. "Can it happen? Sure, it can happen but it's going to take a tremendous amount of work. We need someone who is energetic and can beat the bush, roll up their sleeves and recruit within the building.

"We have to have someone who can build the program, someone who is innovative and just willing to get down in the trenches and build a program. It doesn't matter if they have city experience, suburban experience, or country experience. A football coach is a football coach."

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Globe Correspondent

The games will also be aired regularly on BNN (Comcast channel 23, RCN channel 83).

The schedule (which is subject to change) is as follows:

Friday, Jan. 11: New Mission at Madison Park- Boys 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 18: Excel at Fenway- Girls 6 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 24: Cambridge R&L at Madison Park- Girls 6 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 31: East Boston at Charlestown- Boys 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 8: Brighton at English- Boys 7 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 15: New Mission at Latin Academy- Boys 5 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 22: Boston City Championships- Girls and Boys TBA

Zolan Kanno-Youngs covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at zolankannoyoungs.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @bigzoky.

New Mission sophomore guard Juwan Gooding, who transferred from Milton High, led the way in a losing effort to Christ the King (N.Y.) during the Shooting Touch Holiday Shootout over school break. Gooding is averaging 17 points a game for the Titans. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

After playing his first home game at New Mission High, it didn’t take long for Juwan Gooding to realize he wasn’t in the suburbs anymore.

“Milton is a good school and all but the basketball team has no school spirit there,” said the sophomore who transferred from Milton High said after the Titans packed the house New Mission's first home game.

“Here, you have more spirit. Everyone comes to watch your games," Gooding said. "It’s fun and it's exciting.”

In his first home game last month against Burke, Gooding was rattled by the boisterous crowd at the school's new facility in the Hyde Park complex. But the lefthanded point guard has settled in nicely since.

Through the first six games of the season Gooding is averaging 17 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals per game for the Titans (4-3). Besides a 79-70 road loss to Brighton, New Mission has only lost to Christ the King (N.Y.) and Windsor (Conn.) in holiday tournaments. Gooding almost hit a buzzer-beater to send the game against Windsor into overtime.

In fact, he has settled in so quickly after his first home game that he put up 23 points against Charlestown the next night, scoring New Mission's first 11 points of the game. He had five three pointers in the 87-60 victory.

“That kid can shoot, he can shoot it from on the line, beyond the line, great shooter, and he’s going to hurt a lot of teams with that jump shot,” Charlestown coach Edson Cardoso said after the loss. “He reminds me of [my former player] Ronny Fernandez a little bit.”

As a freshman at Milton High, Gooding was a Bay State League All-Star scoring 19 points per game before Gooding and his father, Santiago “Pumpkin” Gooding decided to move to Dorchester and transfer him to a Boston school.

The soft-spoken 17-year-old with dreads tipped in red coloring says he feels more comfortable at New Mission than he did at Milton.

“More competition, more people of my color, my background and stuff,” he said. “It’s a pretty good atmosphere; kids having fun.”

His father said he liked the academics at New Mission.

“Honestly I want to say the competition is a little more tougher but that’s pretty much it,” said the elder Gooding, who coaches in the Boston Neighborhood Basketball League and AAU. “Academics for New Mission are just as good as Milton. … We decided to get him the same type of education but the [quality of basketball is] also why he came over to New Mission.”

The basketball is pretty good at New Mission, too.

New Mission lost in the first round of the Division 2 North tournament by a point to Arlington last year but won back-to-back state championships under coach Cory McCarthy the two previous seasons, first in Division 4 and then in Division 2.

“It wasn’t even really about Cory, it was more so the academics,” the elder Gooding said. “It was more so the academic piece and the academics were good, solid. I looked at their curriculum and I looked at Milton’s curriculum. And actually New Mission's curriculum they offered more honors courses, their curriculum was a little bit better than Milton’s so all around it was a win-win situation for him.

“Cory is definitely a good guy. He puts in a lot of work with the kids and he doesn’t just care about basketball. He cares about life after basketball, too.

As for McCarthy, he said more than anything he is impressed by Gooding’s penchant for defense and desire to win.

“He’s a smart kid,” McCarthy said. “The kid has major game. He bought into what we’re trying to do and he compliments those other guys, [Shaquan Murray] and those other guys and he fit right in. He didn’t come in trying to be a star. He’s not trying to be a star. He wants to win and I respect that.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Brighton junior guard Nick Simpson leaps to block St. Anthony senior guard Halllice Cooke78-42 victory against the Bengals during the second annual Shooting Touch Holiday Shootout at Emmanuel College’s Jean Yawkey Center on Thursday.(Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Brighton was unable to end national powerhouse St. Anthony's win streak at 68 games on Thursday night.

The Jersey City, N.J., team led by Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley extended its best-in-the-nation run to 69 games with a 78-42 victory against the Bengals during the second annual Shooting Touch Holiday Shootout at Emmanuel College’s Jean Yawkey Center.

“That’s crazy, I didn’t even know that,” said Brighton junior guard Nick Simpson, who scored a game-high 21 points. “I could [imagine a 69-game win streak] if you were coached by one of the best coaches to ever coach; they all work hard. That’s what they do, they all work hard. They are one team, they are together.”

The Friars (4-0), who will play Central Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday night, defeated New Mission, 68-25, in the inaugural tournament at the Kroc Center in Dorchester last year. New Mission played Christ the King of Queens, N.Y. in Thursday’s nightcap.

Hurley is on the Shooting Touch board of directors and all tournament proceeds go to the Shooting Touch Sabbatical Program, which grants graduating college seniors the opportunity to partake in a 10-month international work program using basketball to foster education and influence positive social change in third world communities.

Hurley will also conduct a free coaching clinic for coaches in Boston on Saturday at the Shelburne Community Center (2730 Washington St.) in Roxbury from 9 to 11 a.m.

Brighton (2-3) spotted St. Anthony 20 points before it finally got on the board in the first quarter. St Anthony senior forward Kody Jenkins (20 points) scored 11 points in the 20-0 run, including the first 4 of the game. He also had a 3-pointer followed by a transition dunk in quick succession.

Brighton finally scored with 47 seconds left in the first quarter when junior point guard Malik James hit a runner in the paint before the Friars took a 20-2 lead into the second quarter.

“They missed a lot of threes early,” Hurley said. “If those shots are going in, things could be a little different early. They got that little run going and hit a couple and all of a sudden they started to go, but then we banged a bunch in a row.

‘They are going to be a very difficult team. I like their athleticism; they really get off the floor. When they miss shots they are all over the offensive boards. We had problems keeping them off the offensive boards.”

Brighton opened the second quarter with a quick 3-pointer by Simpson but St. Anthony responded with a 3-pointer by senior guard Hallice Cook to go up 23-5. Simpson scored the next bucket followed by one by Brighton junior shooting guard Mark Mojica to make the score 23-9.

But St. Anthony closed out the half with an 18-3 run, including three 3-pointers, to go into the locker room with a 41-12 edge and the game pretty much in its pocket.

“I’m trying to figure out what makes our guys tick and why we didn’t have more energy to start the game,” Brighton coach Hugh Coleman said. “That’s mind boggling to me. After a while I felt like we had an opportunity to hang a little bit. We came on late, had a very slow start. Tough one, but we go to the drawing board and we take positives out of it and we build on it.”

Coleman said it was an honor to coach against Hurley.

“Coach Hurley is a hall of fame coach, I hope to emulate that and build a program on the same kind of principles and foundations he has and that’s what we’re working for,” Coleman said. “I desire to get to that position and it was an honor for us.”

During the Friar’s 69-game win streak, St. Anthony won two state championships, including Hurley’s 27th state title last spring to cap a 32-0 campaign.

After the game Hurley was a little tight-lipped about the 69-game win streak.

“This is a four-game winning streak,” Hurley said. “A lot of other guys are part of those other 65 [wins]. We’ll leave that alone. We never talk about it.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Mary Pavlu, Globe Correspondent

The girls basketball stars are already shining in just the second week of the season.

Kirina Laryea, Burke: Coach John Evans called this senior guard "the true example of a student athlete."

The captain of the Bulldogs works hard in school by attending the Zone and currently has 4.01 grade point average. Evans said she works just as hard on the court and regularly leads various drills during practice. She also supports and encourages her young, more inexperienced teammates by motivating them when their frustrated and commending them when they excel.

“She is aggressive, tough, hard working, dedicated, and most importantly coachable,” Evans said.

Trayana Mair, Boston English: This senior guard and co-captain leads with excellence on and off the court.

In the Bulldogs’ first two wins of the season she has averaged 20 points. She even cooked a team breakfast for her teammates for the Bulldogs' first home game this week.

Raven Kelsey, O’Bryant: Since her first week, Kelsey has led the Tigers in both scoring and rebounds.

Coach Gertrude Fisher commended the senior forward for her outstanding leadership that helped prepare the team for the Shelburne Christmas Tournament, which they will play at 1 p.m. on Dec. 29 and 30.

Joselyn Harris, South Boston: Coach Andrea Higgins knew she had to nominate Harris after her jaw dropping play this week.

With only two seconds left in the game against Charlestown on Monday, the freshman hit a 3-pointer that secured a 41-40 win.

Kanisha Thomas, Madison Park: While Thomas is a key player on the court, coach Carla Hands nominated her for her dedication in the classroom. Hands said that she works hard to maintain good grades and is also very supportive of her teammates.

Tina Sadberry, Brighton: The Bengals are a new team this season, and coach John Lilly said this senior guard has been a great help in leading the younger girls. She works with them during practice and supports them in games.

He added that she is also an excellent student with a 3.8 GPA.

Mary Pavlu covers Boston Public School athletics. She can be reached at Mary.Pavlu@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryPavlu

Hall of Fame coach Bobby Hurley Sr.'s St. Anthony's squad comes to town to play Brighton in the Shooting Touch Holiday Tournament on Thursday. Several other BPS schools will play in holiday tournaments this week too. (Stan Grossfeld / Globe file.)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

'Tis the season for holiday hoops tournaments.

No holiday tournament this week is bigger than the Shooting Touch Holiday Tournament at Emmanuel College on Thursday and Friday.

Once again, Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley Sr. has brought his famed St. Anthony’s team to the tournament. St. Anthony's will play Brighton High, which lost in the Division 2 state tournament last spring, at 5 p.m. on Thursday before New Mission plays Christ the King at 7 p.m.

St. Anthony's played New Mission last year in the tournament.

“Well, we didn’t get to play [in the tournament] last year and we got called to play in it this year, which is an honor,” Brighton coach Hugh Coleman said. “I think that we were recognized for our success last year and we are honored to be thought of.

“St. Anthony’s and coach Hurley is a well-known program and pretty famous in the basketball world. We know that we have a big game ahead of us and a lot to overcome. We already feel the pressure because they have such a well-known established program, but we are very much up to the challenge. It will be a good indicator for us to see how our kids match up against kids from other states. I think it’s a great opportunity for our kids.”

All tournament proceeds go to The Shooting Touch Sabbatical Program, which grants graduating college seniors the opportunity to partake in a 10-month international work program using basketball to foster education and influence positive social change in third world communities.

Coach Hurley will also conduct a free coaching clinic for coaches in Boston on Saturday at the Shelburne Community Center (2730 Washington St.) in Roxbury from 9 to 11 a.m. To attend the clinic, RSVP to Brad Schoonmaker at bschoonmaker@bostonscholarathletes.org

The clinic is sponsored by the Boston Scholar Athletes Program, Boston public schools and The Shooting Touch.

“It’s open to all boys and girls coaches and athletic coordinators at [Boston Public] schools,” BSA Executive Athletic Director Chris Rooks said. “There are going to be a number of folks there trying to learn from him.”

Rooks said the first half of the clinic will be about coaching at-risk youth, while the second half will be about basketball skills and strategy.

“I think it’s going to be a great event,” he said. “It’s a partnership we started with Shooting Touch this year and in the future we hope to grow this partnership for the benefit of the scholar athletes who participate in athletics in BPS and also for our coaches.”

O’Bryant girls’ basketball coach Trudy Fisher said she’s not sure if she can attend the Hurley clinic because her team, along with Brighton, Fenway, and New Mission, are playing in the Shelburne Holiday Tournament, also at the Shelburne Center.

“He’s awesome, unbelievable,” she said of Hurley. “You look at him and get power. I would love to go. That’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss because people like him don’t always come through. So I probably will be there.”

One of Fisher’s best players, Raven Kelsey, said the Shelburne tournament will be a good chance to play teams from out of the city.

“That will be great for us because when we go to states it will give us experience playing competition outside the city,” she said. “That will prepare us for states.”

Another good holiday matchup to catch will be East Boston and Everett in the BABC Classic at Chelsea High on Friday.

While other city league teams will be playing in the Malden Tournament, the Marion Holiday and the Marshfield Holiday Tournament, not every BPS hoops coach will be taking their teams to holiday tournaments this week. Some coaches see the week as an opportunity to bone up on the basics before the city league schedule picks up again after the holiday break.

Teams such as Charlestown's boys’ squad and Latin Academy’s girls’ team will be holding practice over the break but not playing any games.

“[It’s a chance to] get our stuff together,” Latin Academy's Catherine Loney said, “come back and play hard the rest of the season.”

Globe Correspondent Mary Pavlu contributed to this story.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

After her final Boston City League game before the holiday break on Friday afternoon, O’Bryant junior forward Raven Kelsey was looking forward to catching up on some sleep and hopefully a pair of LeBron James or Kevin Durant sneakers under the Christmas tree.

“I got these for Christmas last year,” Kelsey said of her bright yellow Nikes after a 74-23 home victory against Burke. “Everyone knows me for my sneakers. They call them Sponge Bob sneakers or McDonald’s.”

Kelsey’s game was just as bright as she scored a game-high 19 points for O’Bryant (4-0) while senior guard Laetitia Dorsinville and senior forward Kiana Daley each had 13 points apiece. Junior guard Yonetta Harris netted 10 points.

The Tigers opened the game with a 38-1 run before they took out their starters and played them sparingly the rest of the way.

“Kudos to coach [Trudy] Fisher, people look at score and will think she ran up the score but she did not,” Burke coach John Evans said. “Our moral victory was let's try to get 20 points. That was our moral victory. I put in our B unit and they had no idea what they were doing but they worked hard.

“I have a great bunch of girls. I love them but what they need to learn is character and how to play through adversity. That’s what we need to learn.”

After the 38-1 run, Burke (1-3) put a few points on the board, going on a 10-0 run of its own. Senior guard Brenda Calderon (team-high 13 points) scored two 3-pointers in the run before Dorsinville hit a free throw to give the Tigers a 39-11 lead at the half.

“We didn’t’ want to go out and fast break,” Kelsey said. “We wanted to run our plays and make sure we play our tempo and feed the post.”

Fisher, whose team lost in the finals of the city championships last year, said the season has gone as planned so far.

“What we’ve been working on all season long is trying to get them used to actually running our offense and running our defense and doing it correctly,” she said before the game. “I’m hoping the more that they do it everybody will know where they belong and we won’t have any problems. Just making sure they know what their responsibilities are and accepting it.”

But while the Tigers did a better job of running their plays against Burke, Kelsey showed a bit of defiance by wearing her sky blue Long Johns under her shorts. She said she likes to wear them because they keep her warm but that her coach doesn’t usually let her wear them during games.

“Plus I like to be a little different,” she said. “Everyone knows me as Raven with the Long Johns.”

But if Santa (or her mom) gets her those LeBron James or Kevin Durant shoes she will no longer be “Raven with the Sponge Bob shoes” when she returns from break.

“I try to give hints [to my mom]; ‘Those sneakers look nice,’” she said.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Despite missing some key free throws in the final 40 seconds of the game on Friday afternoon against Madison Park, the Latin Academy girls' basketball team managed to make some key free throws to hold on for a 43-40 victory at Madison Park.

With the game tied at 40, Latin Academy's Catherine Loney missed a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left. But Abigail Ohemeng managed to snag the rebound on Loney’s second miss and was fouled as she missed the put back.

Ohemeng split the pair to put the Dragons up 1 point before Madison Park missed its own pair of foul shots on the other end.

About 10 seconds later, Loney redeemed herself at the foul line by hitting two foul shots with 1 second left.

“Personally I think it’s all mental,” Loney said of missing her foul shots with about 36 seconds left. “I was tired, of course we were all tired, and I wanted to win and I knew I had to make those just to seal the win.

“They’ve been our rivals for a while and that’s all we wanted to do was win against them because we always lose every year. We got stronger, in the offseason we got stronger.”

Loney also scored a game-high 13 points and chipped in 11 rebounds. Sophomore Julia Rosario had 10 points and five steals for the Dragons (3-1).

“It was a hard fight that my girls deserved,” Latin Academy coach Emily Coleman said.

Madison Park (2-2) was led by Krystal Edwards (19 points, 12 rebounds) and her twin sister Amber Edwards (8 rebounds).

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Back in town for the Shooting Touch Holiday Tournament at Emmanuel College next Thursday and Friday, Hall of Fame high school hoops coach Bob Hurley Sr. will conduct a free coaching clinic for coaches in Boston a week from this Saturday.

The clinic will be held at the Shelburne Community Center (2730 Washington St.) in Roxbury from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Hurley's team, St. Anthony's, will play Brighton High at 5 p.m. on Thursday before New Mission plays Christ the King at 7 p.m.

On Friday, New Mission will play Mansfield at 5 p.m. while St. Anthony's takes on Central Catholic at 7 p.m.

To attend the clinic, RSVP to Brad Schoonmaker at bschoonmaker@bostonscholarathletes.org

The clinic is sponsored by the Boston Scholar Athletes Program, Boston public schools and The Shooting Touch.

All tournament proceeds go to The Shooting Touch Sabbatical Program, which grants graduating college seniors the opportunity to partake in a 10-month international work programs using basketball to foster education and influence positive social change in third world communities.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Snowden senior volleyball player Stephanie Chen was selected as a scholarship winner for the Positive Coaching Alliance’s Triple-Impact Competitor Scholarship.

Chen was chosen after joining 19 other Boston-area finalists for an awards ceremony recently at the EMC Club at Fenway Park.

The scholarship amounts vary from $250 to $2,000. Chen, who hopes to attend the University of Hartford in the fall, said she will not learn how much she won until after the holiday break.

“It was exciting, it was a competitive,” Chen said. “They told us there were 20 finalists and only 10 would get scholarship but they got extra money so everyone got scholarships.”

She said she enjoyed her visit to Fenway because it was the first time she was there since she was a little girl.

“It was exiting going again,” she said. “Seeing the field just empty, it was exciting to be in the park.”

The awards are based on student essays about how they represent what Positive Coaching Alliance calls a “Triple Impact Competitor,” or an athlete that focuses on
“personal mastery” of their sport, makes their teammates better through their leadership skills, and makes their sport better by "honoring the game."

Positive Coaching Alliance is a national nonprofit organization.

“I’m just grateful and grateful for the award,” Chen said. “I appreciate everyone who supported me throughout the year, through volleyball and thank you Andy [Crossley] the founder of the scholarship.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Alijah Robinson, who scored a game-high 15 points, leaps for a rebound in the early going against East Boston. Two days after East Boston beat Madison Park on a wild full court buzzer beater, Charlestown brought the Jets back down to earth by handing them a 53-48 loss. (Photo courtesy of Ken Guittarr)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

Two days after East Boston senior guard Pat Santos nailed a miraculous full court buzzer-beater to defeat Madison Park by a point on Tuesday night, the media circus came to the East Boston High’s gymnasium.

And if things weren’t hyperbolic enough after the buzzer-beater was the No. 1 highlight on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Wednesday, the Jets just happened to be hosting their biggest rival, Charlestown, on Thursday night.

But with a local TV news crew and several print reporters on hand, it was Charlestown that came out on top, 53-48, in another wild city league finish.

East Boston (4-1) had a 14-0 run down the stretch to cut Charlestown’s lead to 49-48 with 55 seconds left but junior guard Taris Wilson drew a foul while driving baseline before splitting the pair to put Charlestown (2-2) up by two points with 37.2 seconds on the clock.

“The other team was still stuck in the past but we came out here and woke them up,” Charlestown junior forward Alijah Robinson said after scoring a game-high 15 points.
“We weren’t worried about what they did to Madison but what we did to them.”

It didn’t seem like the hype got to Santos’ head as he hit the opening 3-pointer of the game from the left wing before junior guard Dion Knight hit a 3-pointer of his own to help the Jets start the game on a 9-2 run.

But after Santos missed a buzzer-beater from the top of the key at the close of the first quarter, No. 18-ranked East Boston only led 10-8 going into the second.

The Townies opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to go up 17-10 with 5:42 left in the half. Eastie finally got on the board midway through the quarter and went on a 6-0 run to get within a point 17-16. Charlestown responded with its own 10-3 run to take a 27-19 lead into halftime.

The Townies seemingly cracked open the game with a dunk fest in the third quarter, closing the quarter with three dunks by three different players (Wilson, Robinson and Freddy Oliveira) during a 10-2 run that gave them a 41-31 lead going into the final quarter.

“It feels good, I love this gym,” said Robinson, who transferred from East Boston. “I got my first dunk in here. It feels good to come back in here and beat them.”

Robinson also hit two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to go up 49-35 with 4:30 left, which was amazing considering Robinson injured his shooting hand against Brighton last week.

“I was like ‘Gee you shot the ball pretty well with a fractured hand all taped up,” Charlestown coach Edson Cardoso said. “I was surprised he was even hitting threes. I taped his hand and he was like ‘I’m ready coach.’"

While those shots could have easily sunk the Jets, that’s when they went on their 14-0 run, which was capped by a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Marcus Shaw, to cut the lead to 49-48 with 52.7 seconds left.

After Wilson’s foul shot put Charlestown up 50-48, Santos was called for a backcourt after he couldn’t handle a wild pass with 16.5 remaining.

Robinson said he was nervous Santos would hit another big shot at the buzzer.

“I was,” he said. “He’s good for that but we had to stick together and trust each other as a family and a team and pull through.”

Last year Charlestown took two of three regular season games against East Boston before beating the Jets 61-58 in the Division 1 North quarterfinals at East Boston High.

Thursday, first-year East Boston coach Shawn Brown, who played for Charlestown in the early 1990s, was coaching in the rivalry as a head coach for the first time.

“I enjoyed it, I thought the atmosphere was great, you could feel the intensity,” a hoarse Brown said after he has given countless interviews about the Santos buzzer-beater in the last few days. “I thought our guys were up for it in the beginning. I thought it was good, it was exciting.”

Just like in the Madison Park game, however, East Boston’s jets cooled after they got out to a good start.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, that’s what we’re trying to figure out because we do get out, we are up and at it,” Brown said. “It’s my job; I have to figure it out why they are not sustaining it.”

Meanwhile, Charlestown is starting to gel after they got blown out by New Mission and BC High in the first week of the season. On Tuesday the Townies upset Brighton, 62-44, for their first victory of the season.

“When you have 13 new players and two returners it takes time to build,” Cardoso said.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction. The practices have been headed in the right direction. We have been using more mouth pieces if you know what I mean.”

Cardoso was also happy to welcome Brown to the other side of the rivalry.

“East Boston is a great team every year,” he said. “We compete with each other. No team ever blows the other team out. It’s always under five points, four points. Shawn Brown is going to do a great job with this team.

“He actually coached me when I was younger so I learned a lot from him. He’s a great role model to his guys. I’m happy he’s coaching at East Boston now.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Boston Latin senior forward Joe Petruzziello celebrates a goal against North Andover on Wednesday night. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Mary Pavlu, Globe Correspondent

Boston Latin got a victory, beating North Andover 4-2 Wednesday at Matthews Arena, but coach Frank Woods wasn’t impressed.

“We expected a very difficult game and I think that’s pretty much what we got,” he said. “It was not a very pretty game. It was not a well played game on either side.”

The game was extremely physical and there were frequent penalties, and the first quarter ended tied at 0-0.

“In the first period we weren’t playing very well and our competition level was very low,” Woods said. “We weren’t doing a good job on our end getting the puck out cleanly.

Boston Latin got it together at 11:25 in the second quarter when freshman forward Jimmy O’Leary pushed the puck into the net, assisted by senior captain Ryan Dougherty.

“We had the younger kids step up with the goals; two were by freshmen and the first of their career,” Woods said. “It was something we talked about the entire game - get pucks in the net. We didn’t do enough of that tonight, but we were able to create some opportunities.”

Boston Latin struck again at 6:09 when senior forward Joe Petruzziello positioned himself in front of the net and tapped the puck off an assist from senior forward Greg Penella from behind the goal.

North Andover began to get frustrated and moved to Boston Latin’s side of the rink for the remainder of the quarter, but was stopped by the defense of senior CJ Duella and senior captain Brian Forgione.

When Penella scored just 30 seconds into the third quarter after a mad dash, as well as freshman Sean Burke at the 7-minute mark, it looked like Boston Latin was on its way to a shutout. North Andover had other plans.

Although it struggled to get the puck into the net for the entire game, North Andover scored the last two goals in the last six minutes.

“We definitely underestimated them out there and let them get back in the third period,” Forgione said. “Two goals in the third period is not good. We didn’t play the way we are capable of playing. We could have played a lot better.”

Senior forward Jake Silk had a beautiful shot that opened the scoring for North Andover and senior forward Dan Rivet finished in the last minute.

Boston Latin will face one of the top teams in the league, Lincoln-Sudbury, on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Matthews Arena. Woods hopes two days of practice will be enough to get his team ready.

“[Lincoln Sudbury] is one of the best teams in our league and we’re going to have to be a whole lot better than tonight if we want to beat them,” he said. “We just have to play a lot smarter.”

Mary Pavlu covers Boston Public School athletics. She can be reached at Mary.Pavlu@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryPavlu

First-year East Boston head coach Shawn Brown stalks the sideline during Tuesday night's, 43-42, buzzer-beating victory at Madison Park. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

When Shawn Brown was hired as East Boston’s new boys’ basketball coach about four months ago, he did not, he insists, circle Dec. 20 on his calendar.

“I’m not lying to you, while I came from there and graduated from there it’s different in terms of the landscape has changed,” East Boston’s first-year head coach said of playing his alma mater and the Jets’ longtime rival, Charlestown, at 6 p.m. on Thursday for the first time as a head coach.

“Again, to be honest, in terms of there being a rivalry outside of East Boston and Charlestown, I don’t know that I buy into it so much myself personally. I’m excited about the opportunity to be coaching. It’s just that rivalry is in terms of tradition for both schools [but] not because of my affiliation.”

To be fair, the 37-year-old first-time head coach who played for the Townies in the early 1990s, did serve as an East Boston assistant coach more recently. Former head basketball coach Mike Rubin, who is now East Boston's headmaster, asked Brown to be an assistant coach for David Siggers in 2004.

“To have the headmaster say ‘I want you to be part of that program’ meant a lot to me,” recalled Brown, who was an assistant for two seasons.

But during halftime of East Boston’s miraculous buzzer-beating victory against Madison Park on Tuesday night, Rubin wasn’t buying Brown’s story that he didn’t immediately set his sights on the Charlestown game.

“Everybody else does,” Rubin said when told that Brown claims not to buy into the rivalry. “I don’t know, it’s his alma mater. I’m sure he does, I’m sure when he got the schedule they looked to see when they were playing Charlestown.”

During the offseason, East Boston’s previous coach, Malcolm Smith, left the school to become the dean of students at New Mission and Rubin once again hired Brown, this time to run the program.

“The reason I hired Shawn is because of his expertise in mentoring young boys of color and he’s made an investment in our city with his Diamond Educators and they have done a wonderful job the last 10 years or so mentoring young men to be good citizens,” Rubin said of Brown’s nonprofit mentoring organization. “He demands that, and that’s what I want in a head coach, someone who will not only teach them how to play the game of basketball but also teach them the game of life.”

Brown said playing under former Charlestown coach Jack O'Brien, Bert Hammel at Merrimack College, and coaching under Siggers prepared him to be a head coach.

“When it comes to O’Brien and Hammel, it’s just hard work,” Brown said of the impression they left on him. “I talk about the three D's with my nonprofit — discipline, dedication and determination — those are the three things I learned from both of those coaches. If you abide by the principles in those three words you’ll be successful in anything you do in life.

“That applies on the court and off the court.”

But like many first-year BPS coaches, Brown said nothing could have prepared him for all the logistical work and paperwork that comes along with coaching in the city.

“I think the coaching part is easy,” he said. “For one, the support I get from the folks in the school is amazing.”

That has proven to be true thus far for Brown, whose No. 18-ranked team has started the season 4-0, including Tuesday night’s 43-42 victory against No. 15-ranked Madison Park. Pat Santos hit an 80-foot buzzer-beater to give the Jets the victory.

“He’s a good coach,” Santos said after Tuesday’s game. “It’s just a whole new system; you have to play hard for him, he’s an ‘I don’t play around’ coach.”

Brown hit his own buzzer beater as a player for Charlestown in 1994, which just happened to come against East Boston and just happened to clinch a playoff berth for the Townies.

“I just remember him hitting the shot at the buzzer,” Rubin, who coached East Boston at the time, said. “A deep shot, he hit the shot to go up one.”

After Santos’ buzzer-beater on Tuesday, Brown let on a little bit that he was starting to get up for Thursday’s Charlestown game.

“I guess so,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it, I’m excited about the rivalry, I know my guys and I know the history and tradition in the rivalry. Our guys are going to be ready. I know the coaches over there are excited and pumped as well. They will have their guys prepared and I’ll have my guys prepared.”

Brown said he’s not worried about bringing his team back down to earth after the hysterics of Tuesday’s victory.

“Believe me they are not high, this is not a high, a great shot by Pat, but again we have a lot to learn from today’s game,” he said. “We’ll look at the film tomorrow and get right back at it and start preparing for Charlestown.”

As a coach, Brown isn’t buying into the hype of trying to live up to accomplishments of the coaches he played for and coached under.

“While it’s a challenge and I love that challenge, I’m about creating a legacy for my coaching style,” Brown said. “At the same time I’m upholding everything those guys have done, but I can only be Shawn. if I fall into that trap of trying to live up to the legacy of those guys you’re talking about four and five state championships; I have be the best Shawn can be.

“At the end of the day what’s important is I helped raise young men who are going to be the next Shawn Brown, helped mold them. That’s what I want to be measured on, not how many loses or wins I have; I want to be measured on how many impacts I’ve made on a young man's life.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

A day after losing to East Boston on a full court buzzer-beating shot by Pat Santos on Tuesday night that was all over social media and ESPN SportsCenter on Wednesday, Madison Park boys’ hoops coach Dennis Wilson said he will try to pick up his team and move forward.

“I’m going to accent the positive in terms of how hard they fought,” Wilson said. “They didn’t give up. They showed a lot of heart and pride.”

With one second left, Madison Park guard Johnny Bowden was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. Bowden made the first two foul shots before Wilson told him to intentionally miss the third shot.

Santos grabbed the rebound and heaved in the game winner from 80-feet away.

“My logic was he can’t get the shot off in 1 second,” Wilson said. “If I had to do it over again I’d have the kid make the foul shot.”

After the game Wilson questioned if the shot got off in time. On Wednesday Wilson said his videographer didn’t get the play on tape so he didn't have a chance to review it. MIAA rules state that plays must be protested the same day as the game.

“I haven’t thought about it,” he said of protesting the game. “I’m still in a state of shock.”

The two teams will play again on Jan. 29 at East Boston.

“I’m just proud of them, we’re going to build from this,” Wilson said. “We know we can beat them. Let’s get the win at Eastie. Let’s learn from this and move on.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

East Boston's Pat Santos' full-court buzzer-beater to defeat Madison Park on Tuesday night was worthy of an ESPN SportsCenter highlight.

Wednesday it was just that, as SportsCenter made it their No. 1 play on their Top 10.

The play is also up for ESPN’s Best of the Best against an 82-yard rushing TD by Adrian Peterson.

To vote click here.

As of 1 p.m. Peterson’s play was beating Santos’ play 57 percent to 43 percent with 2,084 votes cast.

East Boston coach Shawn Brown said he didn’t know the play made SportsCenter until people started calling his cell phone.

“I didn’t know at all,” Brown said. “I was in meetings then [I found out] just hearing people saying ‘congratulations.’

Brown said other media outlets have been contacting him for interviews and that they might be on Fox 25 tomorrow morning.

Brown said he doesn’t want all the attention to get to his team’s head.

“That’s what I have to address,” he said. “I’ll control that. Again, there’s still a lot to learn from yesterday’s game.”

Here's a video of the shot.

Here's a link to a story about the game.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

East Boston's Pat Santos hit a full court buzzer beater to down Madison Park, 43-42, on Tuesday night. (Pavel Dzemianok / For the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

East Boston senior guard Pat Santos hit an ESPN-worthy full-court buzzer beater to defeat host No. 15 Madison Park, 43-42, Tuesday night.

“I just got it and shot it, there wasn’t even enough time to think; just get the ball and shoot that’s all,” said Santos, who finished the game with only 4 points.

The last-second heroics came after Madison Park junior guard Johnny Bowden was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 1 second left in the game. Bowden hit the first two foul shots to go up 42-40 before he seemingly missed the final foul shot intentionally.

Santos rebounded the miss along the left baseline, where he launched his winning Hail Mary.

“You can’t get off a shot in one second,” Madison Park coach Dennis Wilson said. “You catch the ball and turn and throw a long shot; you can’t do that in one second.”

Led by senior forward David Stewart’s game-high 15 points, Madison Park (1-1) went on an 8-2 run to take a 40-39 lead with 1:24 left. East Boston sophomore forward Rasheed Bell (13 points) hit a free throw to tie the game at 40 before Bowden was fouled on the 3-point line by senior Will March in the final second.

The win was only the fourth ever for first-year head coach Shawn Brown, whose team improved to 4-0.

“I’m looking at my senior [March]; it’s tough, it’s like ‘How do you make that foul,’” Brown, 37, said of the moments before the victory. “Just the highs and lows, the emotions of the game, and this is just the start. I’m young, I think I’m built for it, so we’ll see.”

After No. 18 East Boston scored the first 10 points of the game, Madison Park didn’t score its first basket until the 1:43 mark of the first quarter. The Cardinals trailed, 19-16, at the half and didn’t take their first lead of the game until they went up 30-29 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

But after Madison Park took a 32-29 lead into the final quarter, East Boston scored the first 8 points of the fourth to go up 37-32 with 5:28 left in the game. With 1:24 left in the game, Madison Park junior guard Jaylen Bell scored a transition layup to put his team up 40-39 before Bell tied the game for the Jets by splitting a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left.

“We did not play a great game but we should’ve won the game,” Wilson said. “We did everything, I’m so proud of my little guys, little Johnny [Bowden[ and Jaylen Bell, they played like warriors, they played with MP pride.

“I mean an 80-foot shot, I mean come on.”

Terrell Matthews also chipped in 11 points for Madison Park.

The loss stung even worse for the Cardinals because they lost at the buzzer to East Boston in last winter’s city championships, which were also held at Madison Park.

“This place is always crazy, there’s not one time I played here it wasn’t crazy,” Santos said.

After being mobbed by fans and teammates Santos said Tuesday night was by far the craziest.

“I don’t think even playing around, [taking it] 100 times, I could hit that shot right there,” he said.

Even Brown — who as a player for Charlestown in 1994 hit a buzzer beater to beat East Boston in a playoff-clinching victory — said he’s never seen anything like it.

“You see it on ESPN but you never see anything [like that in person], that was an amazing shot,” Brown said. “I looked up and I just watched the ball. But Pat’s a gutsy kid. And if someone is going to take that shot he is going to take it. He has it in him to take the shot.

“I wasn’t surprised it was Pat.”

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

Sean O’Halloran has been the goalkeeper for East Boston's boys' hockey team since he was a freshman. The senior captain is looking to improve upon last year's season, during which the Jets only won four games. (Billy Owens / For the Boston Globe)

By Mary Pavlu, Globe Correspondent

If anyone knows losing isn't easy, it’s senior captain Sean O’Halloran who has been goalkeeper for the East Boston Jets hockey team since he was a freshman. Last year was tough as the Jets finished their season with only four wins and 16 losses. What’s even worse, says O’Halloran, is that many of the losses were by one goal.

“I’d rather lose by ten goals than one,” O’Halloran said. “When it’s that one, you keep thinking about it, trying to figure out how you can get it back.

“It haunts you.”

Last season the Jets lost 1-0 to Nashoba Valley Tech, Trinity Catholic and Latin Academy – all in a row. They lost by one again, 3-2, to Cape Cod Tech, Mystic Valley and Fenway.

Those close losses weren’t easy for O’Halloran, who believes that he was responsible for the single goals that determined the losses.

“When we versed Fenway I had 50 saves but all I could think about is that I wish I had 51,” he said. “ I just wanted to play those teams again and prove we could beat them.”

Now that O’Halloran is a senior, he wants revenge for his last year on the ice. The Jets are 1-2, leaving plenty of time for improvement. O’Halloran believes there is no time to waste, however, and has already started making changes.

“To get more wins we need to improve on goal scoring, defense, offense, everything,” he said. “Also as a captain I make sure to keep the boys in line in school and on the ice.

He said another reason the Jets had a tough season last year was because many players weren’t doing well in school. This year, he’s making sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I make sure they’re always in class keeping their grades up and getting to practice on time.”

In addition to keeping the team in line, he’s also making sure his goaltending skills are top notch.

“I’m working hard on rebound control and just pushing myself every day to do better in practice,” O’Halloran said. “My coach isn’t too hard on me because he knows I’m hard on myself.”

In addition to longtime coach Robert Anthony, East Boston has also recruited David Hunt, manager of the Eastie rink, to ensure the Jets have their best season yet. He said both coaches help the team improve simply by going over the basics, working on systems and breakouts.

“When he’s focused. he plays like gangbusters,” Anthony said. “When he steps his game up, the other boys capitalize on that.

“The strength of the team is from goaltending on out.”

It’s especially important for O’Halloran to improve and finish his career on a good note because of the hockey culture in his hometown, Charlestown.

“Growing up in Charlestown, you’re pretty much pushed to play hockey,” said O’Halloran, who has been playing since he was seven years old. “Everyone knows each other in the hockey community and kids only two years older than me are getting drafted into the NHL.

“It pushes me to work hard to succeed every day.”

After graduation, O’Halloran hopes to attend a college where he can play in the highest division possible. He knows that a successful season this year could get him closer to his ultimate goal.

“I think one thing every game: I might never get to do this again,” he said of being a goalkeeper. “I’m going to push my team every day and make it clear that winning is our goal.

“This season, instead of losing by one, we’re going to win by one.”

Mary Pavlu covers Boston Public School athletics. She can be reached at Mary.Pavlu@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryPavlu

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The Boston Globe released its first boys' and girls' basketball Top 20 polls of the season on Tuesday and four city schools made the poll on the boys' side.

Fifth-ranked Brighton earned the top ranking in the city after making it to the Division 2 title game last spring.

New Mission, which is off to a fast 3-0 start this winter, is No. 9 in the poll while Madison Park and East Boston came in at No. 15 and No. 18 respectively.

Madison Park and East Boston's rankings, however, are likely to change quickly after East Boston defeated the Cardinals Tuesday night at Madison Park.

Central Catholic garnered the top spot in the poll ahead of North Andover and Danvers.

To follow the rankings all season long click here.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

For the second straight year, a contingent representing the Boston Scholar Athletes program will run the Boston Marathon to raise money for the program that supports Boston public school athletics.

Here's a story about last year's BSA team that ran the marathon.

Boston residents, Elizabeth Collins and Joseph Cappellano are running the marathon for the BSA for the second straight year on April 15 while Kimberly Norris and Shanell Mosley will be running for the BSA through an entry provided by John Hancock for the first time this year.

The runners were chosen by the BSA Boston Marathon Selection Committee.

Collins and Norris both work for Suffolk Construction, whose CEO, John Fish, founded the BSA.

Mosley is a BSA Zone facilitator at Dorchester Academy while Cappellano is a BSA senior Zone facilitator who works out of the O'Bryant school.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.

By Justin A. Rice, Globe Correspondent

The documentary film "PUSH: Madison vs. Madison" that follows the trials and tribulations of Madison Park’s 2007 basketball season can now be rented on Google Play.

Here's a link to the movie trailer.

Justin A. Rice covers Boston Public school athletics. He can be reached at jrice.globe@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeJustinRice or @BPSspts.