Jets press pays off

By Dan Ventura / Schools | Monday, January 25, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | High School

East Boston coach Malcolm Smith isn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Seeing that New Mission was without star point guard Osmel Odena, who was in Florida due to a family emergency, the Jets cranked up the fullcourt pressure to the max. The end result was 30 turnovers and a hard-fought 68-66 victory in yesterday’s Publics vs. Catholics Roundball Classic.

“We weren’t oblivious to the fact that Osmel wasn’t here,” said Smith. “I feel he is one of the top two point guards in the area, so that was our game plan all along.”

Even with the turnovers, New Mission (11-1) hung tough, evening the score at 60 on a basket by Kachi Nzerem (16 points). But East Boston’s Jeff Amazan stepped up big down the stretch, breaking the tie by making all three foul shots, then hitting a huge 3-pointer on the next possession to make it a 66-60 game with 28.9 seconds remaining.

New Mission led for most of the first three quarters behind the play of Samir McDaniels (17 points, seven rebounds) and Nzerem. But the Jets rallied, led by Elijah Chisholm (12 points) and Dimitry Coronel (13 points), to end the third quarter on an 11-0 run.

In other action at the tournament, senior center David Campbell scored 17 points, blocked eight shots and grabbed seven rebounds as Madison Park (11-1) beat St. Raphael’s, 66-35. Also, Gavin Mahoney’s layup with 4.9 seconds left gave Winthrop a 52-50 victory over Cathedral.