WELLESLEY – After a slow start, Catholic Memorial used a dominant second quarter to stretch its lead thanks to solid defense and the ability of 6-foot-3 freshman Josiah Adamson.
The two-seeded Knights put it all together to put away No. 10 Lawrence, 71-56, in the Division 1 quarterfinals at Babson College on Friday. It is CM’s first trip to the boys basketball state semifinals since 2016.
“It feels great,” Catholic Memorial coach Denis Tobin said about advancing to semifinals. “This is what everyone plays for – playing games in March. It doesn’t get any better.”
After a first quarter that saw six lead changes and four ties and an 11-all score, Catholic Memorial (19-4) started the second on a 23-3 run, including an 18-0 run that was spurred by defense for the Knights.
“We spent a couple days showing them what to expect out of Lawrence,” said Tobin about the defensive intensity in the first half that allowed just seven field goals. “I have a smart team. Sometimes, it doesn’t carry over, but with these guys it does.”
Adamson netted all 13 of his second-quarter points during the run with a couple thunderous dunks. He finished with a game-high 24 points and three steals.
“Like every day we work on (our defense),” Adamson said about how hard coach Tobin pushes them in 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.”
With a 39-21 deficit at the half, Lawrence (17-7) kept pushing the Knights on both sides of the ball and made it a 39-27 contest with a 6-0 run early in the third. Catholic Memorial kept attacking as junior DJ Overall (four points) and junior John Hoenschied (seven points) came up big off the bench to push the lead back out to 55-35 after three.
Freshman Aiden Pires added 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 up, Catholic Memorial will face off against Saturday’s BC High/Franklin winner at a site/date to be determined.