Tech boys hoop ousts Hamilton-Wenham 67-51

WILMINGTON ? It has been said that you can’t teach speed. Tech’s fourth-seeded boys basketball team exploited a considerable speed advantage to knock off top-seeded Hamilton-Wenham 67-51 in the semifinals of the MIAA Division 3 North tournament on Wednesday.”We’ll take quickness over size any time,” Tigers coach Marvin Avery said. “We are a fast team and we took advantage.”Tech (15-6) set the tone very early on, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead. The Tigers elected to penetrate the lane early on despite a noticeable size advantage in the favor of the Generals (16-4). B-Jay Baptiste was the main catalyst of this early run scoring 14 of his 22 points in the first half.”(Baptiste) is a young kid and has been doing this all season,” said Avery. “He really stepped up today and set the tone.”Senior Felix Rios also played his part as the floor general. He awed the crowd with some sensational passes leading to easy lay-ins. He finished the game with 11 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.”Felix is a great leader,” said Avery. “He is quick and does a great job setting up the offense.”The Tigers completely dominated the first half, outscoring Hamilton-Wenham 39-23. However, the momentum started to shift a little bit in the third quarter when the Generals started getting the ball into the paint. The Generals got big outings from juniors Chris Hamilton (12 points) and Jake Prince (11 points) inside, while Pat Hendrickson made his impact all over the floor and finished with a team-high 12 points.”(Tech’s) quickness really bothered us early on,” Hamilton-Wenham coach Doug Hoak said. “We didn’t face anyone with that much quickness in the league and you can’t really replicate that speed.”The Tigers managed only seven points in the third quarter and watched the lead dwindle to only 10 after being up by as many as 16 points.”We had a great third quarter,” said Hoak. “We shot pretty well and got the ball inside.”However, Tech would recapture the momentum in the fourth quarter and start to pull away. Gerrad Fairweather also finished the game in double figures for the Tigers, with 13 points. He was lethal from behind the arc in the fourth quarter in what seemed to take the wind out of the Generals’ sails.”We broke down mentally in the fourth quarter,” said Hoak. “Their speed just caught up to us.”Coach Avery will be leading the Tigers to his fifth Division 3 North final Saturday at Emmanuel College. The Tigers will play the winner of the game between Bedford and Wayland.