Boys Hoop: Classical gets past Beverly

The Lynn Classical boys basketball team defeated Beverly 64-59 on Friday evening in a back and forth game that saw the Rams take a one-point lead at halftime before the poor foul shooting which plagued both teams (combined 38 percent) throughout the evening, cost the visiting Panthers.”This was a very evenly played game tonight that we might have taken control with if our free throws weren’t our Achilles heel,” said Rams coach Tom Grassa. “We finished 7 for 19 but luckily for us, Beverly (11 for 25) struggled as well and it proved to be the difference.”The Panthers got 11 points from Jonangel Franco in the loss.The hosts were able to spread around their scoring while doing their very best to contain Nick Cross, who finished with a game-high 24 points for Beverly.”We really tried to key in on him tonight, but he is a very good player and still managed to do some damage,” said Grassa. Cross was coming off a 34-point performance against Malden.The Rams outscored Beverly 21-14 in the third quarter before the visitors rallied to keep things close.”The guys hit a couple of big shots in the third quarter that gave us a comfortable cushion for a bit,” said Grassa. “Beverly never caved in though and you have to give them credit for the way they kept fighting tonight.”Classical (10-6, 8-2) was led offensively by the tandem of Monte Wolfe (14 points) and Phillip Rogers (13 points). The Rams also had a trio of nine point performances from the likes of Jordan Brown, Eddie Solis and Ronnie Williams.The two teams will meet again on Sunday (3:30) in a make-up game, which is the second game of a double-header along with each schools girls teams who play at 1:30.Peabody 64, Revere 58At Peabody, the Tanners prevailed behind the all-around effort of Jared McCarron who scored 12 points to go along with 13 rebounds and four steals. Peabody got a team-high 15 points from Matt Correale as well as 13 points from Brian Onessimo and 11 points from Matt D’Amato. The Patriots got a game-high 21 points from Jason Siegal while Michael Dreeszen added 13 points. Bobby Sullivan finished with eight points, six rebounds and five steals for the hosts.KIPP 66, Comm. Charter 57At MIT, the Panthers got a stellar performance from Ricardy Mehu who scored 21 points to go along with six rebounds and five steals. KIPP (5-1, 5-0) also got solid showing from Tayjuan Mckenzie (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Pedro Morales (12 points, 2 steals).Cath. Mem. 76, St. John’s 64At Danvers, Max Burt scored 17 points and Ben Judson 13, but the Eagles fell to 11-3 to the 14-1 Knights.CM got up by 12 in the first quarter “and it was an uphill battle the whole game,” said coach John Dullea.Still, the Eagles whittled the deficit down to six (38-32) at the break before the Knights went back on a run.”Every time we made a run they answered it,” Dullea said. “They’re very good. They can all shoot and they can all score.”The Eagles are back at it Tuesday at home against Xaverian.