Local teams have mixed results at North Shore Basketball Classic

SALEM – Despite their defeats Saturday afternoon in the inaugural North Shore Basketball Classic at Salem State, both the Lynn Tech and Lynn Classical boys? teams took a lot out of the experience.
In the opening game, Tech (0-3) stumbled out of the gate, trailing Bishop Fenwick, 34-18, at halftime, before a strong surge in the final 16 minutes came up short, resulting in a 52-42 final score.
?I was extremely proud of the way they fought back, especially in the fourth quarter,” said first-year, Tigers coach, Dave Leary, whose team outscored the Crusaders 14-8 in the final eight minutes, led by junior Michael Anaya (10 of his team-high 16 points).
The 5-foot-10 guard opened with a pair of deep three-pointers, before and after scoring off a vicious spin move while driving the lane. The latter of the treys forced Fenwick into a timeout at 5:07, ahead by 10.
?Michael really picked up the pace in the late stages, finding a shooting rhythm that just wasn?t there throughout the first half,” said Leary. “Our energy wasn’t there early on and we began hanging our heads when our shots weren’t falling.”
Juniors Arlin Reynoso and Jahvon Van finished with six points apiece in the loss.
Fenwick (1-1) jumped out to an early 13-7 lead after one quarter with Josh Niconchuk leading the way.
The 6-foot-1 powerhouse scored six of 11 first half points in the opening period, on the way to finishing with 18, a game-high.
?Josh is such a great finisher around the basket,” said Crusaders coach John Preziosa who also lauded the efforts of fellow senior, Jhon Oliveira, who scored eight of his 10 points in the second quarter.
?(Jhon) was aggressive on his drives to the basket and really brought the energy early on,” he added.
Sophomore Ryan Veguilla, a transfer from Masconomet, added 11 points for the Crusaders.
?He’s been a terrific addition,” said Preziosa. “Ryan has come in and provided us with another scoring option on the offensive end of the floor. He’s still young so he’s only going to get better with time.”
Classical (1-2) suffered defeat for the second time in as many nights, falling to the Greater Boston League?s Malden, 67-60.
After Eli McConney opened the scoring on a put-back in the opening minute, the Rams fell behind, never to lead again. Senior, Raheem Langston, proved the biggest difference for the Golden Tornadoes, scoring a game-high 27 points, including four three-pointers.
?I thought we stuck in there pretty well against an extremely athletic team,” said Tom Grassa whose team trailed by 10 after the opening eight minutes, a deficit that remained the same at the conclusion of the ensuing two periods. “We generated plenty of good looks but had trouble knocking shots down.”
Senior Philip Rogers scored a team-high 19 points for Classical, which kept things close in the first half, thanks to Peter Mafo, who scored seven of his 12 points in first 16 minutes.
CJ Lights, a junior, came on strong in the second half for the Rams, scoring 12 of his 13 total points.
Everett 77, Salem 55
The Witches led 41-23 at halftime before the Crimson Tide erased a 7-point deficit going into the final period to defeat the tournament host.
Alex Sanchez scored a team-high 14 points for Salem (2-1), which got 12 points from Kelven Perpetuo. The Witches are at home tonight (7) against Peabody.
Danvers 59, Somerville 53
Devan Harris’ monster night (25 points, 11 rebounds) proved the grand finale of the evening.
The Falcons got strong contributions from Devonn Allen (12 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds) as well as Peter Merry (13 rebounds) Vinny Clifford (6 rebounds), who scored nine points apiece.Danvers (3-0) travels to Gloucester tonight (7).