The Watertown Recreation Department Men's Summer Basketball League will host the Irish Under-18 National team at Saltonstall Park (Rain location: Watertown High School) next Thursday.
There will be two games, the first one beginning at 8:30 p.m. against defending Papas Elite League champion Donohue's Kaos Club, followed by a game against the Papas Elite All-Star team at 9:30.
In other league action this week. ...
Upper Crust responded to its first loss of the season by picking up its third win of the season over Prime Time Sports last Thursday in what was a back-and-forth game. Michael Crotty led his team to the 69-60 win with a game-high 19 points.
Prime Time jumped out to the early 9-3 lead, but Upper Crust stormed back to tie the game at nine with a 6-0 run. Crotty broke the stalemate, dialing long distance with his first field goal of the game, to give Upper Crust the three-point advantage. Crotty added another trey two baskets later, then it was tight throughout.
Chris Emma and Matt Smith kept the pressure on for Prime Time, combining for 16 points in the first half, to take the one-point lead at the break. But Upper Crust responded, hitting 12 free throws, including a near-perfect night from the charity stripe by Mahlon Williams (5-for-6).
Williams finished the game with nine points - all in the second half - while Chuck Abba and Ben Coffin followed Crotty with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Although Prime Time Sports fell to 2-2, there were still two remarkable performances in the loss. Emma led his team with 17 points, including nailing a trey at the end the game, while Smith followed up with 13.
Watertown's Matt Coffey's team-high 14 points were not enough to power the Regulators to their third win of the season as they fell to the Sky Bearcats, 64-49. Billy Johnson led the Bearcats with a game-high 19 points in the win, while fellow big man Noel Hollingsworth provided an additional 16 as they improve to 3-1 on the season. In the loss, Kyle Stockmal followed Coffey's lead with 13 points - a team-high eight coming in the first half.
In the O'Brien's Legends League, the Control Club held off Johnson Club, 57-54. Control dominated the Johnson Club as it took a 23-point lead into halftime in the first game of the evening. Marcus D'Angelis led Control with a team-high 10 first-half points to take the 39-16 lead, but the Johnson Club made a valiant comeback attempt in the second to make it a one-possession game.
Mike Timperio led Johnson in the last 20 minutes with 11 points and finished with a team-high 15. But it was a little two late as Steve O'Donnell converted 5-of-7 free throws to help seal the game with a game-high 18 points. After George Karalis hit his only 3-pointers of the game to bring his team within one, 55-54, D'Angelis hit both his free throws to keep Control undefeated.
Jim Fitzgerald was instrumental for the Kaos Club as it picked up its first victory of the season with a 47-32 win over the Finnegan Club to improve to 1-1. After only hitting one basket in the first half, Fitzgerald came out firing from long range, draining three of his four second-half field goals from behind the arc for a team-high 13 points. Craig Keefe followed his teammate with 10 points. For Finnegan, Kevin Rudd had 14 points as it drops to 0-3 on the season.
