Wakefield makes Classical’s stay in the postseason a short one

LYNN – When you shoot 19-of-54 from the field and collect only 18 total rebounds, it usually doesn?t add up to good things. For the Lynn Classical boys? basketball team, that?s exactly what happened in a 49-46 loss to Wakefield in a Division 2 North preliminary-round game on Monday.
The Rams (11-12) had a nine-point lead in the third quarter but hit only six shots over the final 15-plus minutes to allow the Warriors to stay close and eventually use their rebounding dominance to win the game.
?They just pounded us on the glass,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “And we also missed some easy shots. That really hurt us.”
Classical had everything going its way through the first 19 minutes of play as Wakefield was forced to play catch-up. And when Eli McConney scored early in the third quarter to make it 30-21, it looked like the runaway might be on.
Wakefield?s Brian Dickey had other ideas, though, as he scored five straight points to key a run that drew the Warriors even at 30. The teams traded baskets before Jakeel Brown?s three-pointer in the final seconds of the quarter gave Classical a 35-32 lead after three.
The Warriors, however, were beginning to take control of the paint thanks to a halftime adjustment made by coach Brad Simpson.
?We told the kids that we wanted to focus more on getting the ball inside,” Simpson said. “And to move the ball around a little bit. We did both of those well in the second half.”
Wakefield scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to retake the lead before five straight points from freshman Calvin Johnson staked Classical to a 41-38 lead with five minutes remaining.
Two free throws by Andrew Auld was followed by driving baskets from Tighe Beck, who led all scorers with 18 points, and Jon Miller to give the Warriors a 44-41 lead with 2:30 left.
Peter Mafo got the Classical crowd back into it when he swished a straightaway three to tie it with two minutes left. Dickey was fouled driving the lane and his free throws gave Wakefield the lead with 1:07 to go.
After being shackled all game, C.J. Lights got free and drove the baseline for his only basket of the game to even the score with 45 seconds left.
Wakefield put the ball back in Dickey?s hands and he was hacked going down the lane. He made one of two shots to make it 47-46 Warriors with 26.6 seconds left.
On the next possession, Mafo drove to the basket but saw his potential go-ahead shot fall off the rim into the hands of Dickey, who was fouled with 12.8 seconds left. He canned both free throws that followed and when Lights?s bid to tie the game was off the mark with less than three seconds to go, the Warriors had the win.
?They played tough defense and made it hard for us to score,” Grassa said.Classical easily could have had a massive lead at halftime if not for the one-man show that was Beck. He scored 12 of the Warriors?s 19 first-half points as the Rams needed a 10-2 run to take a seven-point lead (26-19) into halftime.