BOYS HOOP: Grassa’s 34 points propels Classical in win over Beverly

Not many teams have been playing better basketball lately than the Lynn Classical boys and not many players have been as hot as Jasper Grassa recently.On Friday at Classical, the Rams and their senior point guard remained hot as Grassa’s 34 points helped lead the way to a 77-60 win over Beverly in a game that wasn’t nearly that close.”Jasper has been playing pretty well lately,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “And we’ve been getting good contributions from our bench and the other guys as well.”Classical (12-6) led 25-15 after one quarter and by 19 (46-27) at the half. They pushed the lead to 24 after three quarters before calling off the dogs in the fourth period.Nick Grassa added 15 for the Rams while Ariel Ligonde had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Imadiyi also had 10 rebounds to go with his five points.”We’ve been getting close to having five people cash in on the action lately,” Grassa said.Curtis Manuel led the Panthers with 13 pointsSt. Mary’s 68, Arl. Cath. 55At Conigliaro Gym in Lynn, the Spartans (9-7, 6-5 Catholic Central League) moved within a win of clinching a state tournament berth by avenging an earlier loss to the Cougars.”It was one of the better games we’ve played ball movement wise,” St. Mary’s coach Kevin Moran said. “The scoring was pretty spread out for us and as coaches we like to see that.”Nick Gagliolo was outstanding for the Spartans, finishing with a game high 19 points. Ronsanto Campbell added 10 to help balance an attack that saw nine different players score.English 76, Revere 55At the Paul F. Cavanagh Field House in Lynn, the Bulldogs (15-0) trailed by two after the first quarter, but took the lead at the half and steadily pulled away in the second half.Ryan Woumn led all scorers with 22 for English while Travonne Berry-Rogers added 16 as English now gets set to take on Brockton on Sunday (1:30) in a rematch of last year’s epic Division 1 Eastern Mass final.Tech 70, Minuteman 34At Lexington, the Tigers (12-6, 12-2 Commonwealth Athletic Conference) picked up their seventh straight win in dominating fashion. Richie Warren Jr. led the way with 21 points while Mike Duarte added 14 as the Tigers blew the game open in the second quarter.Winthrop 63, Swampscott 52At Swampscott, the Vikings (16-2) clinched their second straight NEC South crown as Jared Bingham led all scorers with 17 points. Dino Mallios added 15 as Winthrop jumped out to a 20-3 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.Mike Walsh and Danny Sullivan had 13 points each to lead the Big Blue.Marblehead 65, Danvers 52At Marblehead, the Magicians (8-8) got 20 points from Matt Temme and 16 by Tom Stockwell to inch closer to a tourney berth with the easy win.Danvers led by a point after one quarter, but Marblehead rallied to lead 29-21 at the half and then exploded for 21 points in the third to break it open.St. John’s 73, Xaverian 55At Westwood, the Eagles (16-1, 7-1 Catholic Conference) clinched a share of the Catholic Conference crown by pulling away in the second half against the Hawks.Pat Connaughton continued his monster season with another stellar performance, finishing with 32 points and 23 rebounds. Steve Haladyna added 14 despite being saddled with three first half fouls while Mike Carbone added 11.Salem 63, Peabody 35At Veterans Memorial Field House in Salem, Antonio Reyes torched the Tanners for 31 points and 14 rebounds as the Witches (13-5, 9-4 NEC North) continued their good play of late.Sean Linehan added 11 points and seven boards while Derek McIntyre had 10 points and 17 rebounds.Fenwick 77, Austin Prep 59At Peabody, Trevor Grace was on fire from 3-point land, canning seven long-range bombs en route to a game high 28 points as the Crusaders (4-11) blew the game open after halftime.Along with Grace, Pat Lyons finished in double figures for a third straight contest with his 13 points and five rebounds.