Boys hoop: English finally gets past Salem

They’ve been the kings of the NEC North in recent years and on Friday at the Paul F. Cavanagh Field House, Salem and Lynn English put on quite the show for those in attendance.Turning the floor into a track at times, the two teams went end-to-end for much of the game as the Bulldogs used a game high 27 points from Keandre Stanton to outlast the Witches, 77-71.”We played good in spurts,” Salem coach Tommy Doyle said. “It was good to play them tough and see some improvement from our first game.”English (2-0) led 13-7 after a quarter and then extened the lead to 35-30 at the half. The third quarter proved to be pivotal as the Bulldogs pushed the gulf out to 55-43.That proved to be huge as the Witches (0-2) put up 28 fourth quarter points to make it a game. The Bulldogs got 13 points from Freddie Hogan and 12 by Alex Brown while Salem had 17 from Chris Dunston; 15 by Marvin Baez and 14 from Emelio Beato.Classical 69, Revere 61At Classical, it got a little too close for comfort for the Rams (1-1), who nearly saw a 20 point lead evaporate in the last six minutes of play.Jalen Brown led the Rams attack with 13 points. Eraldo Custodio had nine and Richie Barbosa added eight as 11 different players scored for Classical. Michael Dreesen had 15 and Kyle Gotham added 12 for Revere.Shawsheen 56, Tech 46At Haverhill, Michael Duarte had 16 points and Miguel Santos added 10 but the Tigers (0-3) struggled to find any sort of rhythm on offense.Saugus 59, Marblehead 50At Saugus, the Sachems (2-0) had a 39-20 lead at halftime before Marblehead shaved the lead to eight after three quarters. Curtis Casella had 16 points and Selim Omorovic added 14 points and 12 rebounds.The Magicians (0-2) were led by 24 points by Brian Gellert. Jeff Peras and Kyle Forsgard each had nine.Peabody 66, Beverly 64At Peabody, Jason Hiou’s two free throws with under 20 seconds remaining gave the Tanners (2-0) the lead for good. Steve Girolamo led Peabody with 24 points while Hiou added 16. Mike Gould had 12 and Steve Leavitt, 11 for the Tanners.Beverly (1-1) was led by 18 points from Zack Zigglebaum and 17 by Chris Keaton.Winthrop 65, Gloucester 35At Winthrop, the Vikings (2-0) overcame a slow start as Josh Babb led all scorers with 20 points. Quinton Dale added 15 and Joe D’Amore had 13 for the hosts.Danvers 70, Swampscott 50At Swampscott, the Falcons (2-0) led 22-9 after a quarter and by 12 at half before pulling away in the third. Nick McKenna had 26 points to lead all scorers with George Merry adding 14 and pulling down 12 rebounds.