DANVERS — St. John's Prep basketball coach Sean Connolly's only expectation of his players is that they play hard.
When they do, he rewards them. When they don't, he sends them a message.
The Eagles usual starting five received one of those messages last night when Connolly elected to start the second unit against B.C. High in a critical Catholic Conference game.
Connolly's motivational tactic worked just fine as senior forward Steve Haladyna came off the bench to score 28 points and the typical Prep starters played with a higher energy level during a 58-45 win over the visiting Eagles. St. John's lost to B.C. High just a couple of weeks ago.
"I just didn't like the way the starters have been practicing the last couple weeks," Connolly said after his team improved to 9-2. "The second group was beating them every day in practice, so they deserved to start. The guys weren't too happy. Hopefully we can keep getting after it in practice."
St. John's Prep's starters last night — Drex Costello, Tyler Dooley, Ben Judson, Zack Burt and Isaiah Robinson — didn't open an early lead, but they played with a lot of energy and intensity that was passed off to the new reserves.
"That woke us up. It showed us we're not playing hard enough," Haladyna said. "We (the starters) got kicked out of practice on Wednesday and the coaches said the second line was starting. They said, 'Come back tomorrow if you want to compete.' That sent us a message."
Haladyna sat for the first few minutes, then immediately made an impact by scoring nine points in the final three minutes of the first quarter.
B.C. High had trouble stopping him the rest of the night, and St. John's Prep's full-court trap also caused problems, especially in the second half.
The host Eagles led by five at the break (30-25), but began forcing turnovers in the third quarter to increase their lead to double digits (40-29) with 4:15 to go in the quarter.
The 11-point advantage swelled to 20 with a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter.
Haladyna had five of those points and senior guard Mike Carbone also drilled a three during that stretch.
"We didn't pass too well tonight and that's because they played great defense," B.C. High (9-3) coach Bill Loughnane said. "They were moving, were active and running; give them credit because they made us look bad."
B.C. High also looked bad from the free throw line, connecting on just 6-of-20 shots.
Haladyna ended up fouling out with just under four minutes to play, but the deficit was too big for B.C. High to overcome at that point.
Carbone had nine points for St. John's and Freddy Shove added seven. Dooley also gave the Eagles tremendous energy on both ends of the court.
B.C. High junior guard Jameilen Jones was the only player with double figures for his team with 10 points.
"We wanted to do more trapping. They're really good at slowing the pace and we wanted to go faster," Connolly said about his team's game plan. "They want to play in the 40s and we want to play in the 70s and 80s. We got the momentum going a little quicker than we did the last time."
