RallyNorth.net

NORTH ANDOVER | This one is going to eat away at the Bishop Fenwick basketball team in the offseason. When you invest that much of your athletic life into a season and it comes down to the final seconds of overtime in the state tournament, of course it's going to hurt.

NORTH READING | When Bishop Fenwick's boys basketball team sported a 6-8 record a few weeks ago, you had to be a big dreamer to think the Crusaders would be any kind of factor in the Division 3 North Tournament.

HAMILTON -- If the Bishop Fenwick basketball team was ever going to crack under pressure in the opening round of the Division 3 North Tournament, it would've happened in this building last night.

Facing a raucous, overflow crowd and a fired up young Hamilton-Wenham team that was aching for a breakthrough postseason win, Bishop Fenwick responded with poise and superb free throw shooting in the final seconds to knock off the No. 4 seeded Generals, 57-54.

In a battle of two state tournament-bound basketball teams, it was the Bishop Fenwick Crusaders who prevailed over Ipswich, 66-58. The efforts of Nolan DiPanfilo and Mike Clifford did the Tigers in. The two junior classmates scored a combined 51 points.

Too many big guys. Too much firepower. Too much defensive muscle. Too much of everything.

The St. John's Prep Eagles had so many advantages in the North Shore Invitational final last night that Bishop Fenwick needed to play a near perfect game to win. The Crusaders didn't come close to playing their best, however, and St. John's Prep was largely responsible for that development in a 69-38 win that gave the Eagles their eighth invitational championship in 11 years.

DANVERS | The excitement is never written on Mike Clifford's face. That's just his personality.

If you'd run into Bishop Fenwick's junior center after the first round of the North Shore Hoop Invitational Saturday night, you never would've guessed from his demeanor whether his team won or lost.

St. Mary's sharpshooter Tyler Grillo drained the second of back-to-back 3-pointers to give his Spartans their first lead of the night, 60-58, with 1:47 left and the Bishop Fenwick bench sighed | they couldn't possibly allow their rivals from Lynn to come from behind and knock them off again, could they?

Swampscott High basketball coach Paul Moran didn't have to be coaxed into a comment when Mike Clifford's name was mentioned prior to a recent game.

"Beast of the Year," Moran said of Clifford, the 6-foot-7 junior center at Bishop Fenwick.

Part of the excitement of covering girls basketball is following the teams as they make a run for state tournament qualification down the stretch.

Unfortunately, it seems there won't be many teams to root for in such a capacity this winter.

The Bishop Fenwick boys basketball team should've been celebrating its best win of the season last night. Instead, it had to digest its most deflating loss.

After methodically building a 24-point second half lead over a very good St. Mary's of Lynn team, Bishop Fenwick collapsed down the stretch and was stung, 71-70, on the road.