Winthrop boxes out Lynnfield, 52-38

LYNN – The most important two words you have to know about last night’s Winthrop-Lynnfield Division 4 North boys basketball semifinal are “and one.”The Vikings, 52-38 winners, employed a couple of different looks with their zone defense in their attempts to slow down the Pioneers’ Mike Kennedy, who had poured in 58 points Saturday against Trinity Catholic.One was a diamond-and-one; and the other was a box-and-one. In either case, the objective was to have four Vikings zone off the rest of the Pioneers while the fifth one shadowed Kennedy. Just about everybody in the Winthrop rotation had a turn at him.Regardless of what these defenses are called, the concept is the same: The Vikings were very willing to give Lynnfield the opportunity to have anyone else on the court beat them. But they weren’t going to let Kennedy do it.”He’s a great player,” said Winthrop coach Dave Brown, who will lead his team into the sectional final Friday (no time nor place has been firmly established yet ? at least not according to the MIAA’s website) against North Cambridge Catholic.”I saw him the other night score 58, and it was a loud 58,” he said. “It seemed like it was 70. It could have been more. He missed a couple of free throws.”Trinity played him man-to-man, and we just figured that if we could deny him the ball, and he didn’t have the type of night he usually has, we’d have a good chance.”Kennedy had four points ? both baskets on breakaway layups as the result of turnovers.”They did a good job of disrupting his rhythm,” said Lynnfield coach Scott McKenzie. “And anyone who’s seen us knows that if he’s disrupted like that in any way, it makes things tougher on us.”Kennedy sensed the scheme and played an unselfish game, passing way more often than shooting. But the Pioneers seemed snake-bitten from the floor, especially in the first half when Winthrop took command.”I thought we played them well defensively,” McKenzie said. “This isn’t a game we ‘lost.’ It’s a game where we got beaten.”Winthrop spread its scoring around pretty evenly, with Mark Jenkins, Mike Visco and Jonathan Murdock scoring 11 points each and Dino Mallios right behind them with nine.Jeff Milinazzo led Lynnfield with 13 points while John Mehr had eight.The Vikings, 15-8, got off to a quick start and Lynnfield could never catch up. They led after one, 15-7, with Murdock dominating the paint early – at least until the Pioneers caught on that he moved to his left much better than to his right, possibly because of the twisted ankle he suffered toward the end of the regular season (he re-injured the foot late in the game, and was limping noticeably afterward; but he says he’ll be ready to go Friday).”It’s a four-week healing process,” Brown said, “but he’s toughing it out.”Neither team really lit it up in the second quarter. Lynnfield had only four points while the Vikings could only muster up 12.It appeared, in the second half, that Winthrop would be content to walk the ball up the court and kill time off the clock. However, Lynnfield did not try to press the Vikings into turnovers.”That’s really not our game,” said McKenzie. “We try to play to our strength, and we just don’t have the speed or athleticism to do that.”They only scored 52 points,” McKenzie noted. “In most games, that’s good for a win.”Lynnfield actually outscored the Vikings in the second half, 27-23. But with that 18-point halftime cushion, it was too little, too late.