WELLESLEY – Catholic Memorial started slowly but then had a strong second quarter, with good defense and the play of 6-foot-3 freshman Josiah Adamson, to increase their lead.
The second-seeded Knights played well and defeated No. 10 Lawrence, 71-56, in the Division 1 quarterfinals at Babson College on Friday. This is CM’s first time reaching the boys basketball state semifinals since 2016.
“It feels great,” said Catholic Memorial coach Denis Tobin about making it to the semifinals. “This is what everyone aims for – playing games in March. It doesn’t get any better.”
After a first quarter with six lead changes and four ties, and an 11-all score, Catholic Memorial (19-4) went on a 23-3 run in the second quarter, including an 18-0 run driven by their defense.
“We spent a couple days showing them what to expect from Lawrence,” Tobin said about the strong defensive play in the first half, allowing only seven field goals. “I have a smart team. Sometimes, it doesn’t carry over, but with these guys it does.”
Adamson scored all 13 of his second-quarter points during the run with a couple of impressive dunks. He ended with a game-high 24 points and three steals.
“Like every day we work on (our defense),” Adamson said, referring to the hard work by coach Tobin during practice. “We work on it every day. Coach Tobin gives us two bricks and we slide back and forth. We work on taking charges defensively and playing help. It’s just what we worked on.”
Trailing 39-21 at halftime, Lawrence (17-7) kept pushing the Knights on both ends and narrowed the lead to 39-27 with a 6-0 run early in the third. Catholic Memorial kept attacking, and junior DJ Overall (four points) and junior John Hoenschied (seven points) made key contributions off the bench to extend the lead to 55-35 after three.
Freshman Aiden Pires scored 15 points before fouling out in the fourth for the Knights.
For Lawrence, senior Joendy Rosario scored 20 points, with 15 of those coming in the second half. Senior Obbie Luciano finished with 14.
Next, Catholic Memorial will play the winner of Saturday’s BC High/Franklin game at a location and date to be determined.
