On the receiving end of a fair share of Santos’ passes was senior shooting guard Zack Gattereau, who finished with a team-high 24 points.
Gattereau played with edge after coming off the East Boston bench for the first time this season.
“I benched [Gattereau] for the start of the game for his lack of effort on defense lately," said East Boson coach Malcolm Smith. “We’re not the most talented team but when we play hard we can stay with anyone. Gattereau can coast from time-to-time, I just wanted to keep him motivated.”
Tyrese Hoxter, who coach Smith called the most talented player in the state after the matchup, scored a game-high 25 points in a losing effort for the Townies, who went a combined 0-for-13 from behind the arc.
After trailing 34-21 at the half, Charlestown cut the lead to eight in the third quarter, but the team's continued poor shooting killed any chance of a fourth quarter comeback.
“We just had one of those off nights,” Cardoso said. “There’s a real rivalry between our programs. We don’t like to lose to Eastie, some of our guys took it pretty hard, but in the end will learn from this and move forward.
“No loss is good, but overall we’re going to be stronger because of this,” Cardoso continue.
“This is one of the fiercest rivalries around,” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re ranked first or 20th, you can throw all that stuff out when these two teams play each other.”
Charlestown, which won't play another game until Jan. 7, should have plenty of time to right the ship. East Boston will try to stay hot against Bishop Loughlin (N.Y.) in the Reebok Tournament next Wednesday.
“Our plan is to sit down and watch the game film and go over what we need to do to get back on track,” Cardoso said.
Beverley stuns No. 5 Lynn English, 51-49
The NEC is shaping up to be a tough conference this season with Beverley, Peabody, and now Lynn English all tied at 2-1.
Chris Keaton finished with 17 points and six steals — three of which came in the fourth quarter -- for the Panthers.
