BC High pulls together to turn back Brockton
BC High, the Globe's top-ranked boys' basketball team, was lucky last night at Brockton and Eagles coach Bill Loughnane will be the first to admit it.
"I thought Brockton was more aggressive," Loughnane said after the Eagles came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat No. 9 Brockton, 58-56. "They were playing harder. That's what it comes down to. They were ready for us tonight."
Tim McKinney (11 points), Jake O'Brien (13), Andrew Yanulis (9), and Chris Hurley (8) led a balanced attack as BC High, playing its season opener, dropped Brockton to 2-1.
McKinney nailed two clutch free throws in the waning seconds to break a 56-56 tie. Brockton guard Kyle Gerry (22 points) then missed a jumper in the lane, and a desperation putback attempt was swatted away by Yanulis.
Brockton sophomore forward Louis Montes scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half. He had a breakaway two-handed dunk, and his back-to-back 3-pointers from the left baseline extended Brockton's lead to 27-20 with 1:10 remaining in the half. Gerry banked home a three with six seconds left as the shot clock expired to give the Boxers a 30-20 halftime lead.
After intermission, the Eagles came out with full-court pressure, which forced Brockton into what seemed like an endless stream of turnovers. Down, 39-30, BC High went on a 15-0 run capped by two Nick Schmiemann free throws with 5:30 remaining to take a 45-39 advantage.
"The man-to-man defense wasn't working," said Loughnane. "The way our team is composed, there are teams that will give us trouble if we stay man-to-man the whole game."
Gerry hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 20 seconds remaining in the game to knot the score at 56. On the ensuing inbounds pass, McKinney was fouled and was true on both ends of the one-and-one.
"We weren't ready to go," Loughnane said. "It's December, it's a good game, and I think our team will go downstairs and understand what we've been trying to preach for three weeks -- that we have a lot of work to do."
Catholic Central: Senior Jim O'Toole's 29 points led the way for Austin Prep in a 66-55 victory over Savio Prep.
Nonleague: Maynard's Kara Morgan recorded a triple-double in a 61-36 win over Murdock. The senior forward scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, had 10 steals, and added 6 assists . . . Point guard Jackie Goodwin recorded her third double-double in four games, tallying 24 points and 16 rebounds to go with eight steals in Mystic Valley's 40-27 victory over North Shore Tech.
Globe correspondent Dylan-Ernst Schäfer contributed to this report. 
