Free throws, Cohen add up to Everett boys hoop win over Classical

LYNN – The story of last night’s Everett win over Classical can be told in two words: Jerome Cohen.The big, burly Crimson Tide center simply had his way with the undermanned Rams on the offensive end of the court Wednesday, scoring a game-high 24 points and just terrorizing anyone who tried to defend him.Mainly due to Cohen, the Rams got into a double-penalty situation before the third quarter was out, which meant Everett spent the last 10 minutes marching to the foul line and sinking free throws.”We didn’t have an answer for him,” Rams coach Tom Grassa said after the 72-65 loss. “We did a good job taking care of the people who hurt us last time (Dio McCloud only had eight points and Isaac Johnson nine). But we just couldn’t stop Cohen.”To make matters worse, Classical couldn’t capitalize on its free-throw opportunities, making only seven of 18 and missing two freebies after Everett had been assessed a bench technical in the third quarter.”They made 21 of 31,” Grassa said, “and we made seven of 18. That’s a huge statistic.”It is, especially when you consider each team had 24 baskets, with Classical sinking nine three-pointers to Everett’s three (all of them by Matt Costello).But it wouldn’t be accurate to attribute the loss to the disparity in attempts at the foul line. After being bombarded by threes in the first half, and trailing by eight points (37-29) at the half, Everett coach John DiBiaso decided to take advantage of a couple of things.First, he got his bench more involved (Classical was severely undermanned, both due to sickness and coach’s decision). And second, he exploited the huge advantage Cohen gave him in the middle.That advantage manifested itself late in the second quarter, when Cohen scored eight points – all of them in the paint. He really went to work on Classical in the final two quarters, and even though Jarell Byrd played him as well as he could, the weight advantage was just too much.Byrd had a monster game himself, scoring 23 points and hanging in there against Cohen on the glass. Also coming up big for Classical were Cameron Smith (16 points) and Luis Ayala, who stuck to McCloud like glue throughout the game.Everett started the game as if it would shut out everyone except Byrd, who scored all 14 first-quarter points for the Rams. But Classical steadied itself in the second quarter and surged ahead, thanks to the hot hand of Smith, who had 10 points.”We had to do something about those threes,” said DiBiaso. “So we came out a bit more on defense, and really turned up the pressure.”Cohen came out smoking in the third quarter, hitting five straight points. And when James Noel added another bucket, that made it a 7-0 Everett run, cutting the deficit to one. Classical got the lead back up to five once (thanks to an outrageous three-pointer by Jasper Grassa as the time clock was about to expire), but the Rams couldn’t pull away.The fourth quarter was more of the same. With only 43 seconds left, after a Tony Johnson bucket, the Rams (13-9) only trailed by three (68-65). But McCloud hit two free throws, and then hit a basket, to account for the final score.