English emerges triumphant in thriller with Swampscott

SWAMPSCOTT – Midway through the third quarter Tuesday night, things looked pretty bleak for Lynn English. Swampscott led by 15 points, and even though the Bulldogs tried to mount a comeback from a 12-point halftime deficit, nothing was working.Then, Ryan Woumn hit a three-point shot. It hardly seemed significant at the time, because the deficit was still 12 points. But it was. English finished the quarter with three straight buckets on top of Woumn’s trey, good for a 9-0 run, before Swampscott’s Scott Leffler finally managed to squeeze home a basket right before the buzzer.The net result was that English shaved seven points off that deficit and trailed by only eight (49-41) entering the fourth quarter. The Dogs would go on to outscore Swampscott 22-12 in the final eight minutes to win, 63-61, in what had to be a very satisfying win for them ? and a most frustrating defeat for the Big Blue.”Our defense started to click,” was English coach Buzzy Barton’s explanation. “Our defense didn’t come together until late.””We knew English was going to give us a battle,” said Swampscott’s Paul Moran. “They always do. My hat’s off to them. They came back. But it was a tough one for us.”After a first half that saw Swampscott put on a late second-quarter spurt thanks to the hot hands of Trevor Wheeler (game-high 25 points) and Leffler (12 points) to go up 32-20 at the break, English came out in the third quarter with much more fire and looked as if it would put a dent into that deficit. But even though English scored more baskets, Ryan Squires (16 points) of Swampscott hit two three-pointers during that spell, and the end result was that English could only tread water.But Woumn’s three woke the Bulldogs up. Rafael Perez, who had also been quiet in the first half, scored two quick buckets and James Mitchell added a third to make it 47-41. Leffler got the lead back up to eight again, but it didn’t matter as far as English was concerned.Eugene Turner opened the fourth quarter with two straight hoops to bring English to within four, before Wheeler scored a basket to make it 51-45. A huge trey by Justin Young made it a three-point game, and when Charlie Rucker hit two free throws, the deficit was down to one, 51-50. Another Woumn basket, following up a Wheeler miss, gave English its first lead since the opening minutes, but Squires put Swampscott back ahead moments later.Wheeler made it a three-point game (55-52) with 2:42 to go, but Jeremy Subervi (English’s leading scorer with 16) hit two three-pointers, sandwiched around a deuce by Squires. The second one, with 1:59 to go, gave English a 58-57 lead.”I thought that was the turning point of the game right there,” Barton said. “That really gave us a spark.”However, Leffler hit a basket, and then sank two free throws, with 1:42 to go, and that one-point lead was back to being a three-point deficit again (61-58). But those would be the last points Swampscott would score.Subervi’s layup with 1:30 to go pulled English within one, and after the Bulldogs took a timeout with 1:05 to go, Perez made a steal in the open court, came back down, and laid it in with under a minute to go to make it 62-61, English.Woumn rebounded a Swampscott miss and got fouled with 9.9 seconds to go. He hit the front end of a one-and-one, but missed the second, making it 63-61.English got the ball back after another Swampscott miss, but couldn’t convert the inbounds pass, giving the Big Blue the ball back for a final time with .09 seconds to go. Beaulieu launched a last-second prayer, but it went wide.There was some confusion – and a brief skirmish – toward the end of the game, but both coaching staffs, as well as the Swampscott athletic staff, defused the situation before anything could happen.”They are two good kids,” said Moran. “They know each other and they respect each other. No one got hurt. It’s a tough, competitive game, and sometimes these things can happen. But I also think they get exaggerated.”