Boys hoop: Last-second free throws help Classical eke out win over Peabody

The Classical boys basketball team only had the lead for 18 seconds Tuesday night at Peabody … but that was enough.Philip Rogers scored the last two of his team-high 14 points to lift the Rams to a 57-56 win over the Tanners, lifting Classical’s record to 2-1 thus far this season.Peabody had double-digit leads four times in the game, but couldn’t put the Rams away.”They had leads of 12, 13 and 14 points in the second half,” said Rams coach Tom Grassa. “We’d make a little run to get it down to six, but they’d always respond.”Finally, with less than four minutes to go, Classical began chipping away, and with 18 seconds left, Rogers was fouled and hit both free throws. They were the last points of the game.From there, Peabody got the ball from half court, and launched a shot. It missed, but went out of bounds off Classical. The Tanners called a timeout, and got off a play, “and they got a real good look,” Grassa said. “But it didn’t go in. I thought for sure it would go in.”Classical grabbed the rebound and that was that.Eddie Solis chipped in with 12 for Classical. Jared McCarron and David Hoar (13), Brian Onessimo (12) and Matt Correale (10) led Peabody (1-2).”It was a hard-fought battle between two good teams,” Peabody coach Thad Broughton said. “They made a couple of more plays at the end than we did.”English 86, Beverly 80At English, Freddie Hogan poured in 26 to lead the Bulldogs to their second victory of the season. The Panthers are 0-2.”It was a dogfight from start to finish,” said English coach Mike Carr. “We had a lot of inexperienced players just thrown in there because our big guy (Danny Lukanda) fouled out. They did well. I was proud of them.”Erick Rosario had 23 points and Lukanda 11 before leaving. Cam Burke had a big game with 10.St. John’s 64, St. Mary’s 58At St. Mary’s, Anthony Silfa was high man for the Spartans with 14 points, with Dennis Bailer adding 12.The Spartans led by five early in the fourth quarter, but went cold just as St. John’s was heating up. Max Burt led the way with 16 for the Eagles, Ben Judson had nine and Spencer Danforth 12. Mike Bisson had 11 rebounds.Rockport 73, Fenwick 69At Fenwick, the Crusaders (2-2) gave up 11 three-pointers “and that was pretty much the story of the game,” said coach John Preziosa. “I don’t think we came out quite ready, but I’m happy we didn’t quit. We fought hard.”Matt Costello had 23 points for Fenwick with Dom Leone scoring 21.Salem 81, Revere 45At Salem, “everything they shot went in,” said Revere’s Adam Rizzo, whose Patriots fell to 0-4.Mike Ciambelli (10) and Mike Dreeszen (9) led the Patriots.For Salem (2-0), Rashad Keys had 17 points, Jamie Dominguez 23, Bryan Martinez-Rodriguez 11 and Justin Dominguez 10.Danvers 69, Swampscott 27At Swampscott, the visiting Falcons (2-0) overwhelmed the Big Blue, with three players scoring 10 points apiece. Rashad Francois, Kieran Beck and Peter Merry, combined for 30 points with the latter adding 12 rebounds. Swampscott (0-3) was led in the offensive end by Chad Nelson who scored 12 points.