LYNN — Coach Marvin Avery says he hasn’t had a legitimate big man since the days of Antuwan Streeter. And that was back in 2002.
But the Lynn Tech basketball team has one now. His name is Lynwood Moore, and he’s a skinny 6-7 senior who missed a crucial year of development in 2011-2012. As a result, he’s just coming into his own.
“He gets better and better every game,” said Avery after the Tigers defeated Bishop Fenwick, 49-35, at the O’Connor Gym.
Moore finished with 18 points and pulled down 21 rebounds to lead the Tigers to only their second win of the season.
“He does what a big man’s supposed to do,” Avery said. “He dominated in the paint and made them change their shots.”
Fenwick’s Mike Kane certainly agreed with that.
“He altered a lot of shots,” Kane said. “We have trouble scoring anyway. Our defense is fine. And we hustle. But we’ve had trouble scoring all year.”
Moore’s presence in the paint certainly didn’t make that easier. And he made it just as tough for Fenwick on the other end. Many of his rebounds were off the offensive glass, and at least four of his baskets were put-backs off other misses.
“Lynwood is growing up with each game,” said Avery. “It’s too bad we didn’t have him last year, but I’m just happy to have him this year, and he’s been very impressive.”
Tech led comfortably from wire to wire ”¦ sometimes a little too comfortably.
“We got stuck in the mud a few times,” Avery said, “but we snapped out of it. Our biggest problem now is that we have to protect the ball. But I liked the start tonight. We got off to a good start.”
It was 17-8 after a quarter and 31-15 at the break. Both teams seemed to spin their wheels in the third quarter, as neither approached double digits for scoring (6 for Fenwick, 7 for Tech).
Fenwick made a brief — but late — spurt late in the game to get to within 12, but — fittingly — a basket by Moore accounted for the 49-35 final.
Mangala Mbangu scored 13 points for Tech. Matt Costello had 10 for Fenwick.
Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].
