It’s a real ‘Classic’ as Rams top English in boys basketball

LYNN ? Another classic, this time to Classical.The Classical boys basketball team bounced back from last week’s loss to English with a 74-70 win, in another tense, thrilling and well-played game, Friday night, at Classical High.Jarell Byrd, Cam Smith and Jasper Grassa paced the Rams (6-1) with 14 points apiece, while Chris Francois led a tremendous effort by Classical’s bench with 10 points.The Rams avenged an 83-74 loss to English (6-1) in the Boverini Tournament and took over first place in the Northeastern Conference’s North (Large) Division, since last week’s tourney final is considered a non-league game.Five players scored in double figures for English, which was led by Rafael Perez and Jeremy Subervi with 11 points each. Ryan Woumn, Justin Young and Eugune Turner added 10 apiece.”I have to say this is a really big win for us, coming off what I considered a blowout,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “Psyhcologically, the kids were down. Rafael Perez and Ryan Woumn combined for 41 points for them last week and their backcourt had 59 points out of 83, so we challenged our guards to step up and play better defense (last) night.”Last night’s game was also almost a complete contrast in that Classical trailed for a total of only about two minutes, and took the lead for good when Francois hit a 12-foot jumper with 51 seconds left in the first half. English got to within one point (54-53) with 6:02 left in the game, but Grassa and Byrd sparked a 11-2 run that put the Rams back in command.”It definitely wasn’t our day,” English coach Buzzy Barton said. “They were ready to play. We struggled all week in practice and it showed.”Cam Smith scored nine points in a first quarter that ended with Classical ahead, 21-15. The Rams’ lead ballooned to eight twice in the second period before the Bulldogs roared back with an 11-0 run that culminated with a 7-footer from James Mitchell to give English its largest lead at 30-27.Classical responded with an 9-2 spurt to close out the period and led, 36-32, when Quivari Jackson nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing just before the halftime buzzer.Jasper Grassa canned three 3-pointers early in the third period to build the Rams’ lead to 52-39, but the Bulldogs came back again, this time with a 9-0 run keyed by full court pressure that included four points from Perez. Bryd made a running layup from the right baseline just before the buzzer to give the Rams a 54-48 lead heading into the final period.The Bulldogs scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, with a steal and layup by Perez cutting the Rams’ lead to one. Coach Grassa called timeout with exactly six minutes left to play.”We were ahead by 13 late in the third period and then I look up early in the fourth and we’re ahead by one,” coach Grassa said. “But we didn’t panic.”Jasper Grassa made a deep 3-pointer from the left elbow, and then Bryd scored the next four points as English went into a deep freeze offensively. After the timeout at the 6-minute mark, the Bulldogs made just field goal over the ensuing 5:29.Byrd plunged in the dagger with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:22 left to make the score 68-57. English got to within four when Turner hit a 3-pointer from the left elbow, but with only 1.1 seconds left. Cam Smith took an in-bounds pass and flipped it up in the air to run out the clock.”Give credit to Classical. They played a great game and we didn’t,” Barton said. “We’ll just have to get ready for round three.”The rubber match, which at this point looks like it could decide the NEC title, takes place at English on Friday, Feb. 15.