MARLBORO — There was a little bit extra on the line when third-ranked Marlboro High hosted No. 4 St. John’s on Tuesday night, as the Pioneers' legendary coach Bob Foley vied for his 900th career win, while the Panthers’ star senior center Chris Doherty entered the game 13 points short of 1,000 for his career.
Doherty ended up hitting the 1,000-point milestone with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, then helped Marlboro fend off a late St. John’s rally, as the Panthers held on for a 65-64 victory and season sweep of the Pioneers.
“There’s been a lot of great players through Marlboro, and only a couple of them achieved (1,000 career points), so it just means a lot getting my name up on the banner,” said Doherty, who finished with 15 points. “But I want a different banner. I don’t want a 1,000-point one, I’d rather have a state championship.”
“When he scored his 1,000th point, he didn’t want to come over and celebrate,” Marlboro coach Scott Bauman said. “For him to get an accomplishment like that, in front of the community of his high school and his friends and all that, for him to set that aside for the purpose of winning a ballgame, that’s who he is.”
Marlboro (8-2) started the second half with a 21-3 run to take a 53-30 lead five minutes into the second half, but the Pioneers (7-5) stormed back to cut it to 54-44 entering the fourth quarter, then made it a nail-biter in the closing minutes.
The Panthers beat St. John’s, 52-47, on Dec. 22 at Coaches Pavilion in Shrewsbury. Now they’ll look to keep their four-game winning streak going at Leominster on Friday night.
Meanwhile, St. John’s will try again for Foley’s 900th win at home Friday against Sutton.
“I didn’t want him to get it on our home court, but I have great respect for him and the whole team,” Doherty said of Foley. “They’re a great team.”
St. John's big man Sean Burke went off for a game-high 35 points, including 10 in the opening quarter to keep it close, with Marlboro ahead, 17-13, after one.
“He’s going to get his,” Bauman said. “We could have done a better job limiting other people from scoring, but they’re going to find a way to get the ball into Burke’s hands, and he’s going to be positive with it, so it is what it is.”
The Panthers held on to a two-possession lead at halftime, 32-27, but came out flying in the second half, as Alex Santos (team-high 18 points) knocked down a left-wing 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 run over the opening 1:39 of the third quarter.
Burke responded with a left corner 3-pointer of his own to draw it back to 40-30, but that was the Pioneers' only field goal of the opening 5:11 of the second half.
Marlboro scored 13 straight points, including five from Doherty and 3-pointers by Kevin Short and Stephen DiGregorio (13 points) to balloon the hosts’ lead to 53-30 before Foley finally called a timeout with 3:13 left in the third quarter.
Now, it was the Pioneers’ time to go on a run, scoring 14 of the final 15 points of the third quarter, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Bobby Duquette to pull it back to 54-44 entering the final eight minutes.
“We’ve got to learn to, when we have a lead, we’ve got to be able to sustain it,” Bauman said. “Of course, a team like that with a coach that’s coaching them like that, they’re going to keep fighting until there’s zeroes across the board.”
Doherty scored on a putback to make it 56-46 for his 1,000th point, but St. John’s followed that with a 7-2 spurt to cut it to 58-53 with 5:31 remaining.
Freshman guard Nathan Bangadozou drained a 3, then scored on a transition layup in succession to make it a one-possession game, 61-58 with 4:06 left and the two sides traded baskets from there.
Steven Bucciaglia hit a pair of free throws with 16.1 seconds left to make it 65-64, but Marlboro held off the Pioneers in the closing seconds.
—Contact Carl Setterlund at sports@telegram.com.