LAWRENCE — For 47-and-a-half minutes, it was the basketball equivalent of a rock fight.
Ironic, then, that Saturday night’s Division 1 state quarterfinal between Beverly and top-seeded Central Catholic came down what amounted to a chess move.
With time winding down in a tie ballgame, Central ran a backdoor screen that found star Javi Lopez wide open under the basket for two points. Jeremiah Almanzar, with a little help from Nizeah Castillo, then stole a Beverly inbounds pass with four seconds remaining and dribbled out the clock, seizing a 55-53 thriller from the Panthers in this Division 1 state quarterfinal at a sold-out Memorial Gymnasium.
Beverly, the No. 8 seed, went toe-to-toe with the state’s undisputed No. 1 team for the full four quarters. The lead changed hands 14 different times and was tied eight others, leaving the packed-to-the-gills crowd laser focused on every possession.
Beverly head coach Matt Karakoudas felt his team had done an excellent job of limiting Central’s dangerous half court offense most of the evening.
“We knew they love to run that back screen,” Karakoudas, whose team finished its season 19-5, said of the Raiders and the game’s decisive basket by Lopez. “It was just one of those things: time, moment, atmosphere, fatigue, working the clock, and they lull you to sleep a little bit. … just a well-executed play by them.
“For us to be on the road in this atmosphere with four seconds to go, with the ball and a chance to win, you can’t ask for much more,” he added. “Unless you win.”
Now 21-2 on the season, Central Catholic moves on to the Division 1 state semifinals. There they’ll meet upstart No. 12 seed Springfield Cathedral at a date, time and location to be determined.
Mark Dunham’s Raiders, who won their 41st game over the last two seasons, had defeated Beverly in the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic final and, according to his estimation, had faced the Panthers 10 times between summer and fall ball. He also acknowledged Karakoudas as “one of the best coaches in the state.” This Elite 8 clash, he knew, would not be the 14-point victory over the Orange-and-Black his team had achieved back in late December.
But he had spotted something during Saturday’s contest that he filed away, feeling his club might be able to use it later on. The time was right to do so, he felt, after Central rebounded a Beverly 3-point miss with 35 seconds left and called time out to set up a play.
Taking precious seconds off the clock while working the ball around the perimeter, the Raiders finally got the look they were hoping for and found Lopez (21 points) in the perfect spot under the basket.
“We moved some pieces around,” said Dunham. “The action that we run and get a lot of stuff out of, we just put Javi in a different spot. I thought seeing him over there, (Beverly) wouldn’t get to that diagonal screen.
“(Junior guard) Drew O’Keefe set an amazing screen, and Javi really slipped it. We knew we were going to jump it over the top, and I said, ‘Drew, set a great screen; Javi, slip it to the baseline and there should be nobody there.'”
With a foul to give, the Raiders committed an infraction on Beverly’s own senior superstar, Jacob Klass (20 points) with four seconds left. After a Panther timeout, they tried to get the ball to Klass but he was held up by the Central defense, which got a steal from “Poopy” Almanzar to finish off this barnburner.
“Poopy is literally the most underrated player in the state because he does so many things that affect winning,” said Dunham. “He does so much for us that goes unnoticed.”
One stat that jumped off the page was that Central Catholic attempted 22 free throws (making 12), while Beverly was sent to the line a mere half-dozen times, converting just one.
“That’s just how it went in the flow of the game,” said Karakoudas.
The Raiders also got a strong offensive night out of sophomore Elkin Pena, who dropped in 20 points. O’Keefe finished with nine.
Central led by four (31-27) at the break before Beverly fought back to tie it at 39-all heading into the fourth quarter. Neither squad led by more than three points the rest of the way.
A Klass 3-ball from the left elbow gave the Panthers a 50-48 edge with 3:16 to play. Lopez and Klass then traded single free throws before Lopez put one off the glass to tie it with 2:23 left. A slash to the basket by Almanzar for his only points of the night put the Raiders back up, but Beverly captain Danny Pierce grabbed a monster offensive rebound and put it back home to knot things up one final time at 53-53.
Sophomore Connie Panda came off the bench had had 10 points for Beverly, including a pair of trifectas. Junior forward Andrew Braganca added eight points, with Karakoudas also lauding the defensive play of guys like Domenic Panniello-Torres, Eli Landman and Pierce.
“We made huge strides from the first time we played them, which is what we wanted,” said Karakoudas, whose program will losing five seniors (Klass, Pierce, Panniello-Torres, Jackson Ulrich and Jerome Sutton) to graduation.
“If we had won, we wouldn’t have viewed this as an upset. We really felt we were evenly matched with this team.”
Central Catholic 55, Beverly 53
Division 1 state quarterfinals
at Memorial Gymnasium, Lawrence
Beverly: Jacob Klass 8-1-20, Andrew Braganca 4-0-8, Eli Landman 2-0-4, Domenic Panniello-Torres 2-0-5, Danny Pierce 2-0-4, Connie Panda 4-0-10, Jackson Ulrich 1-0-2, Benjamin Doughty 0-0-0. Totals 23-1-53.
Central Catholic: Elkin Penz 9-1-20, Jeremiah Almanzar 1-0-2, Javi Lopez 7-7-21, Jordan Marion 1-0-3, Drew O’Keefe 2-4-9, Nizeah Castillo 0-0-0, Ademola Ajao 0-0-0, Brody Dick 0-0-0. Totals 20-12-55.
Three-pointers: B, Klass 3, Panda 2, Panniello-Torres; CC, Pena, Marion, O’Keefe.
Records: B, 19-5; CC, 21-2.