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December 19, 2010 · 11:49 pm

St. John’s great start does in Lynn Classical 88-59

Pat Connoughton launches another 3 on his way to a game-high 28 points.

(Danvers) You’d have to bet that St. John’s couldn’t play a better first 11 ½ minutes of a game.

With everything working, the Eagles (2-0) jumped all over visiting Lynn Classical (1-1) on Sunday afternoon at St. John‘s. The final score was 88-59 but this one was over after 11 ½ minutes with St. John’s on top, 45-14.

During the torrid stretch the Eagles made eight of twelve 3’s with just three turnovers while defending the Rams into nine turnovers and five-for-seventeen shooting.

Notre Dame-bound Pat Connoughton (28 points) didn’t disappoint. The 6-5 senior played the point and drilled four from long-range in The Big Start including a buzzer-beater ending the first quarter.

Junior Michael Carbone tallied 21 points including 14 in the decisive start.

Junior Michael Carbone (21 points) can also stroke from downtown. He had fourteen of his points during the segment in which St. John’s was putting this one in the win column.

The Eagle defense (full-court man-to-man) eliminated any organized offense the Rams might have wanted to run. St. John’s dominated enough of those one-on-one battles to force two excruciating scoring droughts for the Rams. One went for three minutes and a 4-3 deficit turned into a 21-3 deficit. A later cool-off over 2 ½ minutes changed a 29-8 deficit into a 41-8 rout.

Never mind that Lynn Classical outscored St. John’s 45-43 after The Big Start. This game was over after 11 ½ minutes.

The game started badly for LC. They were assessed a technical because of a scorebook botch-up. One minute in Nick Grassa

Michael Carbone (31) and Nick Grassa (3) defended each other.

(16 points) made a 3 and someone gave a referee an officiating tip which resulted in another technical. Some of that chippiness resurfaced in the third quarter when Nick got overly aggressive defending Michael Carbone resulting in a third technical foul.

A very good crowd took the game in. Plenty of representation from schools ahead on either St. John’s or LC’s schedule. Even highly regarded New Mission had interested parties in the house.

Juniors Freddy Shove (11) and Owen Marchetti (10) reached double figures for the Eagles.

Carlo Buono (11) and Josh Cheever (10) did the same for the Rams.

Both Owen Marchetti and Pat Connaughton went to the floor with apparent injuries in this one. Owen’s happened in the first half.

Pat Connoughton injured an ankle in the 4th quarter.

Pat’s was with 5:21 left in the game and the Eagles in complete charge, 72-45. Seeing him stretched out on the floor with an ankle injury had to be plenty scary for anyone associated with the St. John’s program. Why he was still in the game at that late stage might be a question for Eagle coach Sean Connolly to answer.

(I keep my own stats. Take my own pictures. I interview no one afterward. Any errors are on me and unintentional.)

St. John’s Prep Still Undefeated After 57-40 Win Over Malden Catholic

(Danvers) St. John’s Prep (7-0) continued undefeated after a 57-40 win over visiting Malden Catholic (3-4) on Friday night at St.John’s despite some very poor Eagle shooting ( 18-for-57 – 31.5%).

If the home team’s shooting hadn’t been off, they might have reached the magic number of the night – 75. Right, that is how old Elvis would have been. Fittingly, quite a few of the St. John’s very active student body section had the Elvis look.

While St. John’s shooting was off, their defense was on. I came away especially impressed with the efforts of senior George Sessoms. He had the MC guards moving sideways instead of toward the basket with his footwork and hustle.

The Eagles put this one in the win column in the first half, during a 5 ½ minute segment (starting in the first period and ending in the second period), in which they outscored the Lancers, 16-2. The run turned an 8-5 advantage into 22-7. The Lancers didn’t do themselves any favors during this crucial spurt by missing seven of eight field goals and the front end of three one-and-one’s.

Patrick Connaughton – St. John’s junior with D1 college basketball future

I came to get my first look at highly regarded 6’4” Eagle junior Pat Connaughton. (He averaged 22 points/17 rebounds per game last season.) He didn’t shoot very well in this one but still ended up with 21 points. His rebounding was noticeable – 18. He also had a number of assists and steals.

During the game-turning run, he hit a jumper, turned a steal into a layup, and had another layup.

He played both inside and out. He will certainly be a guard at the next level. He showed good court vision and got open shots for sophomore Michael Carbone (15 points). Michael drilled five 3’s including three in the final quarter.

Malden Catholic is a Division 2 team playing in the extremely tough Catholic Conference. MC has a couple of Division 2 opponents (Gloucester and Masconomet) on their schedule. They play Gloucester twice and Masco once. If MC can win two of those three they’ll make the state tournament. Another way to the tournament is to win half their games in the Catholic Conference. That second option looked unlikely from what I saw tonight.

Division 1 St. John’s is ranked third in Massachusetts behind Central Catholic and Lynn English by MaxPreps. All three teams are undefeated.

On February 17, St. John’s plays at Central Catholic (Lawrence). That is a Wednesday night (7PM) and it might be worth circling on the calendar now.

(All stats are unofficial.)