Boys Hoop: Swampscott ekes out a win over Salem

The Swampscott boys basketball team showed earlier this week that it has the chops to hang with some of the best teams around when it gave St. Mary?s all it could handle for three and a half quarters.Friday, the Big Blue carried over the momentum from that performance and thanks to 23 points from Mike Walsh, including two free throws with less than a minute left, Swampscott scored a big 55-53 home win over Salem.?We?re getting better every game,” Swampscott coach Justin Fucile said. “We made the hustle plays at the end of the game. I was proud of seeing everybody step up.”The Big Blue (6-7) blitzed Salem early, leading 15-3 after a quarter. The Witches (6-5), though, got red hot from the floor and shaved the lead to 32-28 at halftime.The teams battled back and forth from there with the Big Blue getting big contributions from A.J. Baker (11 points) and Dan Santanello (10 points) to help get them over the hump.Salem was led by 17 from Chris Dunston and 12 by Marvin Baez.St. Mary?s 62, Cathedral 52At Conigliaro Gymnasium in Lynn, Nick Gagliolo had a game -high 26 points and Devin Thompson added 14 as the Spartans (12-3) survived a third quarter charge by the Panthers.?Cathedral is a high quality team,” St. Mary?s coach Kevin Moran said. “The key was that we played really solid in the fourth quarter. We played real hard down the stretch.”Randolf Thurman added eight points and was singled out by Moran for an excellent job running the point all game.Marblehead 62, English 49At Marblehead, the Magicians (4-8) held the fort defensively, holding English (8-4) to 21 first half points.?We played very disciplined,” Marblehead coach Wayne Hanscom said. “We made some shots and played tough defense.”Phil Coughlin had 18 points to pace three Magicians in double figures. Jeff Peres added 17 and Rudy Mukania finished with 13. Keandre Stanton had 17 points to lead the Bulldogs.?Marblehead came to play and hats off to them,” English coach Mike Carr said. “They did a fantastic job.”Arl. Cath. 62, Fenwick 44At Arlington Catholic, Ben Maxner had 12 rebounds, four steals and eight points while Rishad DeSilva pulled down 10 boards, handed out seven assists, had three steals, and scored nine points.However, the Crusaders, 2-9, could recover when the 10-1 Cougars went on an 8-0 second-quarter closing run to break a 24-24 tie and take an eight-point lead into the lockerroom.Peabody 64, Gloucester 47At Smith Field House in Gloucester, Steve Girolamo poured in a game high 26 points and the Tanners (7-6) turned a close game into a runaway with a 24 point third quarter.Jason Hiou had 12 points and Robert Andino added 10 for Peabody. The Fishermen got 20 points from Kyle Lucido.Danvers 56, Revere 37At Danvers, the Falcons continued to plunder NEC opposition as George Merry had 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks to pace the attack. Eric Martin added 12 points and five assists while Nick McKenna had 11 as Danvers led 17-2 and cruised from there.