March 3, 2012 — At Milton High School, St. John's began its quest for a State Title with a convincing 46-32 win over St. Denis of Westwood.
St. John's scored the first six points and Alex Cormier had a hand in all of them. After two nifty passes to Chris Murphy and Travis Thurman for baskets, he added one himself to make it 6-0 with 11:08 to go in the first half. After two straight Westwood baskets, Donnie Weisse came up with a steal and was fouled on the way to the hoop. His two made free throws made it 8-4 and was followed by a Gavin Sullivan 3-pointer to push the lead to seven. St. John's extended the lead to nine at the 3:13 mark after a Stevie Dilisio steal and pass to Alex Cormier made it 17-8. With 1:45 left, Travis Thurman grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to DiLisio for a 3-pointer to extend the lead to ten. After a defensive stop, Chris Murphy gave Swampscott its biggest lead of the game at 24-12. A last second block by Travis Thurman sent St. John's into halftime still leading by twelve.
Matt Hubauer got the second half started on an offensive putback to make it 26-12. At the midpoint of the second half, St. John's went on a 14 point run to put the game away. Baskets by Ben Conner and Colin O'Brian made the score 44-16 with 5:28 left in the game. St. Denis made one last comeback but simply ran out of time as Swampscott moves on to the Quarterfinals.
Chris Murphy(12 Points) and Travis Thurman(10 points) led St. John's offensively. Matt Moran added 10 rebounds. St. John's now takes on St. Joseph of Medford, a team they have beaten twice already this year.
