Southie in a shocker

By Bruce Lerch / Boys Basketball | Thursday, February 25, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com |

Fans might have been excused if they thought the open seats next to the two junior varsity players wearing blue South Boston t-shirts on the visiting bench were available to the public.

Due to a couple of kids becoming ineligible during the regular season, Southie was able to dress only five varsity players for their opening round tournament game against defending state champion Watertown.

As it turned out, five players was enough.

Anderson Santana led the way with 29 points and seven rebounds as No. 12 South Boston stunned No. 5 Watertown, 57-52, in a Division 3 North first round matchup last night at Watertown High. Southie will face No. 4 Lynn Tech Sunday.

“We’ve been dealing with adversity all year long, losing a couple of guys with eligibility issues,” said Knights coach Hakim Johnson. “This is a great group of guys and they played very hard. I’m so excited for the kids and I’m a bit overwhelmed right now.”

Southie (11-10) opened its biggest lead of the game after a 3-pointer by Johan Vizcaino and a pair of free throws gave the Knights a 12-point cushion (49-37) with 4:36 remaining. Then, Marco Coppola singlehandedly got Watertown (13-8) back into the game.

Coppola scored 13 of his game-high 31 points over the final four minutes of the game, answering a Santana bucket to close the deficit to 53-50 with 48 seconds left.

Despite Coppola’s late heroics, this night belonged to Santana, who calmly drained a pair of free throws while the home crowd did everything in its power to distract him. Timothy Barba kept it a 3-point game with a layup, but Southie made three of its last four free throws and Watertown missed a pair of 3-point tries to end it.

Euclides Semedo contributed 10 points and 13 clutch rebounds for Southie. Tyrell Pugh helped Semedo control the glass, grabbing 12 boards of his own.

In Div. 1 South first round, Alfred Johansson led all scorers with 18 points to fuel No. 8 seed North Attleboro (15-6) to a 65-50 win over Attleboro. . . . Barrett Murphy had 26 points as No. 5 Marshfield (18-3) took a 69-55 win over Braintree.

No. 2 seed Newton North (20-3) had a 68-52 win over Weymouth, as Yale-bound Greg Kelley scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. . . . No. 6 Franklin (18-5) trounced Taunton, 93-62, behind Matt Dean’s 27 points.

Top-seeded Madison Park (20-1) pushed past Durfee, 83-71. Center David Campbell had 29 points and 15 rebounds, while Spencer Braithwaite added 25 points and 11 assists. . . . Leonardo Medina’s 15 points led No. 4 Brockton (18-3) over Needham, 78-50.

In Div. 2 North play, Adam Bramanti scored 17 points and Colin Burke recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds as Masconomet (18-3) defeated Arlington, 55-48.

Defending Div. 2 state champion Milton (17-4) edged Stoughton, 58-54, as senior forward Emanuel Hutcherson poured in 19 points. Teammate D.J. Santos added 15 for the Wildcats, who will host Boston English in the quarters.

No. 3 Scituate (16-4) defeated Sandwich, 71-68, as All-Scholastic guard Rodney Beldo scored 23 points and Sean McQuaid added 19 points and seven rebounds. . . . Hopkinton (15-6) pulled out a close 69-66 win over Plymouth North, with help from Max Masucci (19 points, 6 assists) and Timmy Dougolecki (14 points, 10 rebounds).

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