Brookline gets the early jump, rolls past Catholic Memorial
Brookline picked a good time for its best performance of the season.
Alan Shi, Barry Golden and Caleb Haynes all scored in double figures while Brookline connected on 52 percent of their shots to come away with an 75-57 road win over No. 15 Catholic Memorial on Sunday afternoon in West Roxbury.
Haynes led all scorers with 23 points while Golden added 15 points and Shi poured in 14 more. The Warriors (7-3) kept the Knights at an arm’s distance for much of the game. Bolstered a 28-point second quarter, they held a commanding 20-point advantage at the break, led by a dozen after three, and never allowed Catholic Memorial to cut the deficit to single digits after there was 6:02 left in the second quarter.
“We have been shooting the ball well most of the year. We had some wide open looks today because we played unselfish,” Brookline coach Johnny Williams said. “Our three guards in Barry, Caleb, and Aaron (Viola) I would put up against anyone.”
Catholic Memorial (5-2) faced a 44-25 deficit to begin the second half but slowly chipped away. Aiden Pires connected at the rim before John Hoenscheid made two layups of his own to help cut the deficit to 52-40 with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter. A triple by Jadon Beatty and a three-point play from freshman star Jacari Jenkins trimmed Brookline’s line to 10, 58-48.
The six-foot-10 Shi, however, slammed home a two-handed put pack as time expired to stretch the lead back up to a dozen heading into the final stanza. It did not take long for Brookline to put the game firmly out of reach. Viola hit a pull up, Haynes finished in transition, and Viola then drilled a three-pointer off a feed from Shi to stretch Brookelins’ lead to 71-50 midway through the fourth quarter.
“We have been making a more concerted effort to get back in transition and then in turn get out and run,” Williams said. “When you do that effectively, it limits teams like CM whose own game is scoring in boats in transition.”
The Knights grabbed an early 9-8 advantage on a three pointer from Hoenscheid, but Brookline answered with treys from Golden and Haynes to jump in front 16-11 after one. Brookline asserted itself in the game’s decisive second quarter. Viola drove to the basket for a pair of buckets and then Haynes and Theodore Enos hit consecutive triples to stretch the advantage to 26-15.
The Warriors’ run stretched to 13-0 when Golden hit his second three pointer of the game before Haynes buried one of his own. Hoenscheid and Jeremy Hernandez tried to keep the Knights in front with interior baskets, but Mason Stern hit a corner three before fast break layups from AK Ono and Golden gave Brookline a 44-25 edge at halftime.