Pleasantly surprising:
St. John's wears Central Mass. crown
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - Nobody was more surprised to see the St. John's High basketball team celebrating its Central Mass. Division 1 title on the floor at WPI's Harrington Auditorium March 7 than the Pioneers' head coach Bob Foley.

It's not that Foley doesn't love his players and their fight. It's just that the High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame inductee has been watching and coaching high school basketball for a long time and he knows that when you get to the tournament, anything can happen.

"Expected is the unexpected, that's what I always say about this time of year," Foley said. "What I try to remember, first and foremost, is you're dealing with teenage high school kids who have a tremendous amount of pressure on their shoulders. They're going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But what I try to remember is whatever they do - turn over the ball, throw it away, take a bad shot - they're not doing it on purpose."

The Pioneers have won 15 Division 1 titles in the 47-year history of the tournament, eight since Foley took over in 1981. This year's crown, which was accomplished by defeating second-seeded Marlborough High, 62-56, may have been the most enjoyable for the coach.

"I thought Division 1 was just so even this year. I thought any team in the tournament could have won it," Foley said. "I liked our chances, sure, but I looked at a number of teams - Fitchburg, Marlborough, Wachusett, Doherty, Leominster, Shrewsbury - and thought they all could be holding the trophy when it was over just as well as we could."

Keying the Pioneers' run was a pair of overtime victories to open the tournament - an 82-81 thriller over cross-town rival Shrewsbury High and a 69-66 come-from-behind win over perennial Inter-High league power Doherty.

"That was a big key, because it allowed us to really get our legs under us," Foley said. "We're a young team and I thought those two games got us battle-tested and ready for anything."

Youth has served the Pioneers well this season. Freshman Richard Rogers led the team in scoring in the title game with 14 points, while sophomores David White and Chad LaBove added 12 and six points, respectively. Seniors John Perron and Matt LaBove also had a hand in the victory, scoring 10 and six points, respectively.

The Pioneers led, 35-28, at halftime and pushed the lead to as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, the last time with 3:30 to play.

Marlborough, however, roared back, cutting the Pioneers' lead to just two points with 68 seconds left in the game. The second-seeded Panthers (19-4) were led by George Jordan, who poured in a game-high 18 points, and Keith Brown, who added 17.

"We're not good enough to win games easily … We've got kids who just bang away. When you stress defense and rebounding and are content to just scratch out points on offense, you know you're going to be in close games," Foley said. "Besides, we played them earlier in the season [a St. John's victory]. We knew how good they were. And we knew a team that good, with that many seniors, would make a run at us. And they did."

But the Pioneers persevered and earned a date in the state semifinal round, where it played Western Mass. Champ Longmeadow March 11 at UMass's Mullins Center.