Saugus gives it a valiant effort, but loses to Salem in OT

SAUGUS – With the Salem High boys basketball team trailing by as many as nine points in the first half, a Salem fan implored “Come on. This is Saugus!”The Witches (5-1) rallied to win, 83-77, in overtime, Friday night, at Saugus High, but it’s clear the Sachems (3-3) aren’t a pushover. The usual trio of Raphy Medrano (23 points), Dario Medrano (19) and Antonio Reyes (18) led the way for Salem, while Brad Skeffington added 11 points.Click here to see more pictures from last night’s actionFor Saugus, Omar Benabicha led all scorers with 29 points, while Curtis Casella contrinuted 17 in a game the Sachems led most of the way. Reyes followed up his own miss with a putback to tie the game with 5.5 seconds left in regulation, and the Witches took the lead for good when Reyes made a driving layup with just over three minutes left in overtime.”They’ve got the experience of playing in big games,” said Saugus coach Paul Moran, of the defending Div. 2 North champions. “It makes a difference when the game is on the line.”The key strategy maneuver may have been made at halftime by Salem coach Tom Doyle. After trying to match 3-pointers with Saugus in the first half, Reyes – the Witches’ point forward – took the ball to the basket in the second half and overtime.”We like the three, but Antonio is our first option,” Doyle said. “He can create shots for us by taking the ball to the hole.”The Sachems were blazing hot early, making their first three shots beyond the 3-point arc to take a 9-0 lead. Salem slowly chipped away and Raphy Medrano’s layup just before the first quarter buzzer gave his team a 13-12 lead.Brett DiPanfilo hit three 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, and Benabicha scored eight straight points for the Sachems to build the lead back up to seven before a 3-pointer by Raphy Medrano made the score 37-34 at halftime.Saugus again led by as many as seven before Reyes, who in the first half aggravated an ankle he injured during football season, started driving to the basket with regularity. A layup by Salem’s Chris Dunston tied the game at 48-all before Casella nailed a three from the right elbow to give the Sachems a 51-48 lead at the end of the third quarter.The fourth period followed the same pattern of Saugus staking itself to a lead, this time six points, and Salem reeling the Sachems back in. A 3-pointer by Dario Medrano with 2:10 left in regulation cut the lead in half, and then Raphy Medrano tied the game with another three off an in-bounds pass by Reyes.Casella answered with a 3-pointer and Benabicha made a couple of free throws with 31 seconds left, but then Skeffington hit arguably the game’s second biggest shot – a 3-pointer to make the score 68-66, with 21.2 seconds remaining.Salem fouled Casella in the back court, and he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18.5 seconds left. After a timeout, Reyes took the ball down the left side of the lane. He was short with his initial shot, but collected his own rebound and scored to send the game into overtime.Saugus led for the last time when Casella converted a driving layup with 3:12 left in the extra session. Reyes answered with a strong move to the basket, and then Raphy Medrano dropped the dagger, a 3-pointer from the right elbow with 2:45 left. The Witches’ lead hovered between six and eight the rest of the way.Trailing, 81-75, Saugus’ last gasp was a 3-point attempt by Benabicha in the final minute that was blocked by Dunston and converted into a layup at the other end by Raphy Medrano.