Madison Park puts on finishing touches

By Evan MacDonald, Globe Correspondent | March 6, 2010

Over its last few games, the Madison Park boys’ basketball team had seen big leads evaporate. Tuesday, the Cardinals led by 19 at halftime but required overtime to dispatch Brockton.

When the Cardinals saw another double-digit lead creep down to just 5 points against Mansfield last night, the team’s mind-set was on finishing the job.

“The last two or three games, we’ve gained big leads and let them come back into the game. We lost focus,’’ senior guard Spencer Braithwaite said. “I think today, we were more focused on stretching that lead and keeping focused.’’

The Cardinals did respond, stretching their lead back to double digits en route to a 72-60 win over Mansfield in the Division 1 South final at TD Garden.

Senior center David Campbell scored 29 points and Braithwaite added 19 as the top-seeded Cardinals won their first sectional title since 1982.

Madison Park (22-1) will play for the EMass championship Monday at the Garden.

Mansfield (21-3) got as close as 41-36 early in the third quarter, but the Cardinals used their lockdown defense to close the frame on an 11-4 run that restored their breathing toom.

“The old cliché is, ‘Defense wins championships,’ but it’s true,’’ Cardinals coach Dennis Wilson said. “If we can pressure people and make them do things that they don’t do well, then we’re going to be in any ballgame.’’

The Cardinals’ staunch defense continued in the final stanza as they stretched the lead to 64-46. The Hornets didn’t sink a field goal until Fred Baskin (team-high 14 points) hit a 3-pointer with just more than two minutes left.

Mansfield coach Michael Vaughan said Madison Park’s speed and athleticism on the defensive end was crucial.

“They get a hand on every loose ball, and it amazes me,’’ Vaughan said. “Four or five times I thought we had good rebounding position, and they’d get a finger on it, and two tips later, they’d have the ball.’’

The Cardinals took a 40-31 lead into halftime, with the highlight being Braithwaite’s half-court 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.