Classical has to put on a late push to beat Peabody

LYNN – It nearly became an opening night flop for the Classical basketball team on Tuesday.The Rams were in complete control against Peabody midway through the fourth quarter, leading by a comfortable 17 points.Then the roof nearly caved in.Peabody put together a run that shaved the lead to five but the Rams steadied themselves and closed with a 12-2 spurt to take a 70-55 win.”That is a much improved Peabody team,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said.”But it’s a good start for us. We were able to hang in when they made the run and finish off the game nicely.”If anywhere, the Rams won this game on the boards and from the foul line. Classical pulled down 51 rebounds on the night and hit a remarkable 27-of-34 times from the charity stripe.”We rebounded extremely well and foul shooting like that is gonna win you a lot of game,” Grassa said.This one was close for most of the first half as the Rams jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead before Peabody closed the gap to 18-14 by first quarter’s end. Classical pushed the lead back out to five twice thanks to 11 first half points from Carlo Buono before eventually taking a 32-25 lead into the half.The third quarter turned into the Nick Grassa and Shaddai Pena show for the Rams as the two combined to lead Classical on a 13-3 run that extended the leadf to 45-28 with 4:30 left in the quarter.Peabody stayed tough and got the lead back to 14 at 50-36 heading to the fourth.Steve Girolamo’s three to begin the final quarter cut the lead to 11 and gave the Tanners a bit of a boost.Classical, however, strung together the next six to take a 56-39 lead and seemingly have thigns in complete control.The Tanners called time out and turned to their pressure defense which rattled the Rams for the first time all night. Girolamo hit another three to help trigger a 14-2 run that suddenly had the lead cut to 58-53.Wally Abraham’s conventional 3-point play with 2:50 left extended the lead back to eight and the Rams would not lead by less than seven the rest of the way.