Danvers boys hoop stages invasion of English gym

LYNN – s good as Keandre Stanton is, his presence wouldn’t have determined which team would have won last night’s boys basketball game between Danvers and Lynn English.Click here for a photo gallery of last night’s gameWith Stanton suspended due to a violation of team rules, according to English coach Mike Carr, the Falcons routed the Bulldogs, 70-40, at Cavanagh Gym.”It’s very disappointing,” Carr said. “They executed, and we didn’t. Keandre by himself doesn’t account for a 30-point difference.”Indeed, this was a rout in every respect. The Falcons (6-1) out-rebounded, out-hustled and out-played the Bulldogs (5-2), who in particular were unable to solve Danvers’ 1-3-1 matchup zone, with 6-7 center George Merry in the middle.”It’s something we use,” Danvers coach John Walsh said. “It’s tough for them, without (Stanton). They’re a phenomenal team. But it’s nice to have a big kid like (Merry) down low. He played hard tonight.”Merry led all scorers with 22 points, while Nick Bates added 15 and Jon Amico chipped in with 14. Gibron Morillo was the only player for English to score on double-figures with 16 points.It took Danvers about five minutes to begin to assert its dominance. Leading, 11-7, the Falcons held the Bulldogs scoreless for the next 8:36, while scoring 16 straight points. By the time Morillo finally broke the scoreless skein with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, Danvers had a double-digit lead it never came close to relinquising.Merry hit a pair of carbon-copy putbacks to open the second half, and then Bates nailed a jumper from the left elbow to make the score 41-17, with 5:03 left in the third quarter.Another three from Morillo got English as close as it would get for the rest of the game at 43-25, but the Falcons closed out the third quarter on a 10-2 run.The lead peaked at 33 for the first time when Amico scored with 4:05 remaining in the game.”The thing that’s disappointing is our effort,” Carr said. “We’re a young team that’s still evolving, but one of the things we’ve prided ourselves since I’ve been coaching here, as an assistant and now a head coach, is toughness. And they were definitely tougher than we were tonight.”English plays its next game at home on Tuesday against another formidable foe, Winthrop. Carr said it is unlikely Stanton will play. Danvers, which has no home gym this season, travels to Salem on Tuesday.