MIAA Finals Preview

New England Recruiting Report | Thursday, March 14th, 2013

 
The MIAA will crown their state champions during a full day of action on Saturday at Worcester’s DCU Center.  Here’s a preview of the three boys’ finals:

Division I – Mansfield vs. Putnam, 7:30pm @ DCU Center

Mansfield came out of the south region and advanced to Saturday’s final with a 55-50 win over perennial powerhouse Central Catholic.  A balanced offensive attack and a dominant first half of defense were critical to Mansfield’s success as Kevin Conner led 8 players in the scorebook with 14 points.  Defensively, Mansfield held CC to 17 first half points, and managed to survive 12 fourth quarter points from sharp-shooting guard Tyler Nelson to earn the trip to the finals.  

Look for Saturday’s final to be a defensive battle as Putnam is another squad that prides itself on defense and rebounding.  Putnam is coming off their first Western Massachusetts championship in school history and followed that up with a 52-39 win over Milford.  Dizel Wright and Kayjuan Bynam led the way in that one.  Wright had 17 points and 12 rebounds while Bynum had 15 and 13.  

Division II – Brighton vs. South Hadley, 4pm @ DCU Center

Brighton will be riding a wave of momentum coming into the finals following their comeback win over Scituate in the semifinals.  Malik James was the sparkplug as he scored 14 of his team high 21 points in the final 4:37 of the fourth quarter, including a game winning three-point play with just 8.4 seconds left on the clock to give Brighton a 55-52 win after trailing by double figures midway through the fourth quarter.  

South Hadley advanced to the final with a dominant fourth quarter run against St. Bernard’s in the semis.  The two teams were tied at 40 following the conclusion of the third quarter, but the Western Massachusetts champions closed the game on a 23-8 run to punch the school’s first ticket to a state final.  Thomas Fitzell and Evan Marcus led the way with 20 points apiece.  

Division III – Danvers vs. Smith Academy, 12:30pm @ DCU Center

Danvers is looking for their second straight MIAA state championship and hoping their veteran laden roster can prove to be the difference on Saturday.  That was certainly the case in the semis as they hung on for a tough 50-47 win over Martha’s Vineyard.  Danvers, who starts four seniors, closed the game with a 7-0 run, forcing turnovers to create transition offense.  A balanced offense continues to be a major key as Nick Bates, Nick McKenna, and Dan Connors all finished in double figures.

They’ll face a Smith Academy team that earned a 72-56 win over Littleton earlier in the week after having previously claimed the Western Massachusetts championship.  Keith Natale led the way with 20 points while senior guard Mat Sulda added 15.  

Division IV – Bishop Connolly Defeats Lynnfield

While three state titles will be crowned on Saturday, one championship has already been decided after Bishop Connolly knocked off Lynnfield 65-62 in Tuesday’s division IV final.  Tommy Keyes scored 26 points while playing the game in memory of his grandfather, who had passed away last Monday.  Sophomore big man Konrad Bradbury added 14 points and 13 rebounds while John Goncalo contributed 12 points of his own en route to the state title.