English-Danvers headlines Benedetto

LYNN – The 29th annual Dr. Elmo Benedetto Boys? Basketball Jamboree at Lynn Classical Friday night kicked off the local season.
“I thought the jamboree was tremendous,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “It was a good atmosphere with a lot of very competitive games. It was an opportunity for kids to get that nervousness out and play in front of a good crowd.
The jamboree features seven games of two eight-minute periods each, with no overtime.English 27, Danvers 27Making his return to English, Anthony Silfa scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Bulldogs, while Johnny Hilaire added five. Vinny Clifford paced the Falcons with 12 points, on four three-pointers. Devonn Allen scored five points for Danvers, which is returning all but two players from last year’s team.Tom Gillespie of Danvers banked in a five-footer from the right box to tie the score with 20 seconds left.English had a chance to win when Joncarlos Moya went to the free throw line with 12.4 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one.The Falcons led by as many as five points in the first half, but English started the second half on a 6-0 run and eventually took a 25-19 lead when Silfa made a fast break layup with 4:48 left.Clifford helped Danvers get even with a three-pointer from the right elbow with 2:44 remaining in the game.Everett 33, Classical 29Everett ended the first quarter with a 7-0 run and went on a 12-3 run early in the second quarter to keep the Rams playing catch up all night. Ghared Boyce from Everett led all scorers with 12 points with teammate Jordan McAfee adding six. Erick Solis was the top scorer for the Rams with 10 points. Eri McConney chipped in five. The Rams were without Philip Rogers because of a violation of school rules.St. Mary’s 32, Winthrop 18Coming off an appearance in the Division 4 North final last season, the Spartans unveiled some new faces, including Jake Castinetti, who led all scorers with 11 points. Veteran Dennis Bailer added seven.St. Mary’s jumped out to an 8-0 lead, and pushed their advantage to double digits (15-4) when Bailer made a running layup with 1:25 left in the first half.Castinetti hit three three-pointers in the second half as the Spartans opened up a lead of 17 points (30-13) late in the game.Vinny Harrison paced Winthrop with six points, while Dimmone Marshall and Loran Shuka added four each.St. Mary’s coach David Brown was pleased with his team’s first outing.”We lost some key players to graduation and transfers, but our defense should be better than it was last year,” Brown said.Revere 43, Lynn Tech 32Revere led,15-11, at the half and kept the pressure on until the end. Janard Jones led the Patriots with 10 points including two threes, while Camilo Gomez was right behind with nine points.First year Tech coach Dave Leary saw his team playing catchup most of the way despite solid performances by Michael Anaya, with 10 points including two three-pointers, and Shaiheem Mazil with eight8 points.Bishop Fenwick 25, Swampscott 20The Crusaders rallied from an early seven-point deficit and held off a late rally by the Big Blue.Ryan Veguilla led Fenwick with five points, while Josh Niconchuk, Myles Connor and Matt Haley added four each. Travis Thurman, Nick Scibelli and Dajour Dunkley paced Swampscott with five points each.A three-pointer by Thurman helped Swampscott get out to an early 9-2 lead, but Connor scored a pair of buckets to close Fenwick’s gap to 13-9 and halftime.The Crusaders started the second half on a 9-0 run, with five straight points from Veguilla. Swampscott closed its deficit to two, at 22-20, when Dunkley scored a fast break layup with 1:37 left, but Niconchuk sealed the win for Fenwick with a three-point play on the next possession.Beverly 32, Saugus 18The Panthers went on a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter to put the Sachems in a hole early. Sophomore forward Pat Gavin led Beverly with eight points with Gavin Sparkman scoring six. The Panthers finished 15-8 last year, l