Danvers stays perfect with controversial win over English

LYNN – A questionable call mired of one of the North Shore’s best basketball games of the season Wednesday night at the Paul Cavanagh Field House at Lynn English.
Danvers walked away victorious by defeating Lynn English, 79-78, to remain undefeated (20-0).
The game appeared destined for overtime, but Danvers?s Devan Harris heaved up a desperation three-pointer as time expired and the officials determined he drew enough contact with English’s Brett Holey for a foul to be whistled.
“We’re not going to blame officials,” said English coach Mike Carr. “We played a very good game against a team that is as good as anyone in Eastern Mass. And it’s tough to have a foul end the game, but that’s not why we lost.”
English (16-3) struggled all night on the glass, as Danvers used its size advantage with 6-foot-9-inch Peter Merry and 6-foot-5-inch Devan Harris. Rebounding was a point of emphasis all week for the Falcons.
“We have good size and attack the glass,” said Danvers coach John Walsh. “But English is a tough, tough team.”
English’s Anthony Silfa (24 points) was white hot to open the game, scoring 13 points in the opening quarter and hitting seven of his first eight shots. English led, 23-20, after the opening frame, and continued to trap and force turnovers to take a 41-38 lead into the half.
“We knew English would come out fast and pressure,” said Walsh, whose Falcons trailed the entire first half. “We just needed to weather the storm, and we did because of Devonn Allen.”
Allen, a sophomore guard, dealt with relentless pressure from English’s Erick Rosario, Stevie Collins and Silfa.
“We weathered the storm because of Devonn,” continued Walsh. “It was hard to see that because of our turnovers, but that’s a credit to English. Their pressure is incredible, but Devonn handled it for us.”
The game shifted in the third quarter. A contrast of styles was apparent all night, but never more apparent during those eight minutes of play. While English had thrived with an uptempo pace, Danvers slowly and deliberately took its time on offense, shooting 10-for-14 from the field by running its offensive sets until the ball found the open man.
“We knew there would be openings, and we took advantage of them,” said Danvers’s Vinny Clifford, who finished with 28 points and drilled eight three-pointers for the Falcons. “English pressures the ball really well, so you need to take advantage of open shots.”
Clifford connected on four three’s in the third, and the Falcons even opened up a 64-52 lead before English ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to narrow the gap to 64-58.
English refused to quit in the fourth quarter, constantly overcoming deficits by harassing Danvers’ ball handlers.
Carr was particularly pleased with the play of Collins (15 points, seven assists, six steals), his senior captain.
“Stevie was fantastic,” said Carr. “He just gives us so much. Earlier in the season, we had a void in leadership. Thanks to Stevie, that’s no longer an issue.”
Merry and English’s Johnny Hilaire traded old-fashioned three-point plays down the stretch, and a Clifford trey gave Danvers a 76-73 lead with 1:22 to play. Danvers seemingly controlled the game, but Collins forced a turnover and fed Rosario (17 points, nine rebounds) for a fast-break layup to put English within one, 78-77, with 20 seconds to play.
The Bulldogs then fouled Harris, who missed the first of a one-and-one, and Collins earned his way to the charity stripe after driving to the hoop. He missed his first attempt, but sunk the second, tying the game with 4.5 seconds in regulation.
Danvers then inbounded the ball to Harris, who looked for Clifford but could not make a clean pass. He dribbled downcourt, initiated contact on his three-pointer, and was fouled by Holey as time expired. He hit his first free throw and the game was over.
“I knew I had three shots, so I was just going to take my time,” said Harris, whose game-winning free throw atoned for a miss from the line just moments