LYNN – When it comes to defending Lynn English, it’s a question of picking your poison.Do you try to run with the Bulldogs (now 8-0)? Not unless you’re similarly big and quick.But if you try to slow the game down, which is what Marblehead did last night at the Cavanagh Field House, the Bulldogs can still beat you. It happened last Friday against Classical. And after last night’s 56-50 win over the 6-2 Magicians, English served notice that it can play any game you want ? and still win.And if you’re the rest of the Northeastern Conference, you’re not going to like this: Coach Buzzy Barton says he thinks his team was tired Tuesday night.”I do,” he said. “We’ve played a lot of ball over a short period of time.”That they have. They played back-to-back tough games in the Boverini Tournament (winning it), and they were back at it Friday against Classical, Sunday against Everett and last night against Marblehead.”We knew what they were going to do,” said Barton. “We knew they were going to get us in a half-court game and keep us from playing our up-tempo style. I just don’t think we had the legs.”This isn’t to take anything away from Marblehead, Barton said.”They played well, and did what they had to do,” Barton said. “I’m glad we had enough to overtake them.”Things didn’t look all that great for English in the middle of the second quarter as the Magicians outscored the Bulldogs 20-11, building an eight-point lead during one stretch before settling for a 31-25 lead at the break. Play was very ragged for long stretches during the first 16 minutes, as Marblehead tried everything it could think of to disrupt English and take it out of its rhythm. And it worked.”We took it to them in the first half ? and they took it to us in the second,” said Magicians coach Wayne Hanscom. “We didn’t want to get caught playing their game, but give them credit. They came back on us. Our objective was to go slow, be patient, and work for our shots ? and it worked in the first half.”The problem with trying to defend English is that the Bulldogs can quickly unleash a flurry of points before you know it. And that’s exactly what happened toward the end of the third quarter. After English patiently worked to get back into the game – with typically balanced scoring – the score stood 37-37 when the Bulldogs reeled off eight straight points to close out the period. Two of them came on free throws, and the other six came courtesy of three-pointers by Archie Allen and Justin Young (two of a quartet of Dogs finishing with nine).That put English up 45-37 in a hurry, and after Charlie Rucker hit a nifty hook shot, followed by two free throws by Jarred Bingham, the lead was up to 10 (49-39). And it looked as if the Bulldogs would go on one of their patented rampages.Not so fast. Taariq Allen would score via a goaltending call, and Brandon Lee (17 points) drilled a three, and it was 49-44.Marblehead actually whittled that down to a three-point lead (53-50) with less than a minute to go, but despite several good looks at the basket, the Magicians could come no closer.”We had our chances down the end, but we squandered them,” said Hanscom.Ryan Woumn (who also had nine points) hit a free throw to make it 54-40 with 29 seconds left after the referee ruled that Lee had stepped on the line while driving to the basket. And Archie Allen capped the night by stealing the ball and laying it in just before the buzzer.Also hitting for nine points was Jeremy Subervi. Jose Rivera was right behind him with eight.Pat Song and Matt Temme had eight each for Marblehead.