Boys basketball: Classical stays red-hot, clinches tournament berth

It wasn’t long ago that the Lynn Classical boys basketball team was sitting with a 3-6 record and in danger of letting this season get away quickly.How fast fortunes can change.On Friday, the Rams won their seventh straight contest with a 68-60 win over Peabody that clinched a Division 2 North tournament berth in the process.The tourney clincher came in style as Classical rallied back from a 36-34 halftime deficit and broke a 48-48 tie with a 20 point fourth quarter outburst.”There was a point there when we were at 3-6 that we were struggling,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “Now we’re finding ways to have people step up and get big baskets for us when we need them.”The Rams (10-6) were being shot right out of the gym in the first half on Friday as the Tanners rained down six three pointers in the opening 16 minutes. Classical settled down its defense and charged down the stretch thanks to a game-high 20 points from Nick Grassa and 17 by Carlo Buono.Kyle Franey had 18 to lead the Tanner attack.St. Mary’s 66, Williams 56At Braintree, the Spartans (11-3, 10-1 CCL Small) set up a showdown with Cardinal Spellman in Lynn on Monday night thanks to a sterling second half rally.Trailing 30-26 at the break, St. Mary’s rallied to lead by a point after three quarters and then put the pedal to the metal in the fourth quarter with 25 points. Nick Gagliolo led the way with 18 points while Matt Manning had 14, 11 of them coming in the first quarter.Devin Thompson added 13 for the Spartans while Luis Rijo had 12.Tech 55, Shawsheen 33At Billerica, the Tigers (9-3) got 22 points from Richie Warren Jr. and 16 points and eight rebounds by Mike Duarte in the win.Gloucester 49, Swampscott 39At the Benjamin A. Smith Field House in Gloucester, the Fishermen pulled away in the final quarter as Adam Philpott had 22 points and 15 rebounds to lead the hosts. Jordan Shairs added 11 points and 13 boards.Swampscott was led by Mike Walsh’s 13 point game.Danvers 74, Saugus 53At Saugus, the Falcons (6-8) led 43-32 at halftime before turning on the jets in the second half. Mike Scarfo buried seven threes en route to a game-high 25 for the Falcons.Sean Mehegan added 20 while George Merry had nine points and 12 rebounds for Danvers.Winthrop 50, Marblehead 46At Marblehead, the Vikings (10-5, 6-5 NEC South) clinched a tournament berth as Quinton Dale had 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way.”Going into the season, I was going to be shocked if we won five games with everything that we lost,” Winthrop coach David Brown said. “But these kids have bought in to the defensive scheme we play.”Mike Griffin had 11 points and Taj Generazzo added 10. Marblehead got 19 points from Matt Temme in the loss.Austin Prep 51, Fenwick 39At Reading, Bill Klemczuk had 13 points and 11 boards as the Crusaders (3-11) trailed by only two at halftime before shooting struggles haunted them in the second half.