Doherty nearly stuns Naps.

• Position: SPORTS

Byline: Kevin O'Malley

WORCESTER - Doherty High reached a point against top-ranked Holy Name that few other teams have this season when Derrick Johnson stole the ball and got off a potential game-winning 3-pointer last night on the Highlanders' court.

But Johnson's heave fell just short, allowing the Naps to escape with a 66-65 win.

"I was pleasantly surprised," Doherty coach Ed Capsitck said. "We came out of the timeout hoping that maybe we could hope against hope and get a turnover, or more or less just get a foul. But things almost fell right into our hands. It was probably the wrong guy to get the ball that far away from the hoop."

"Our kids respect Doherty, we knew they were going to be tough," Holy Name coach Jason Chavoor said. "Their record is extremely deceiving, and when they play in here, it is a whole different game. We don't overlook anybody. We aren't worried about Saturday until Saturday. Every game is a tough game for us. We know, obviously, that teams want to beat us. Doherty's record is very, very deceiving."

Doherty (7-6) has suffered five of its six losses to the iron of Central Mass.

"We play as tough a schedule as anyone besides Holy Name," Capstick said. "We've lost to Milford, we've lost to Marlboro, we've lost to these guys twice, and we lost to St. John's, so there is five of our six losses right there. We want to get to be one of the elite teams around here, (and) those are the teams that we are that close to getting by."

Holy Name needed all of Dominique Price's game-high 32 points to keep the Highlanders from getting by them.

"I was more of a scorer today, I was looking to...