Salem turns up the defense to eliminate Woburn

Once playoff time rolls around, coach Tom Doyle and the Salem boys? basketball team are never an easy out. On Thursday at Veterans Memorial Field House, Woburn got a first-hand glimpse of that fact in a Division 2 North first-round game.
The Witches shut down Woburn?s leading scorer, Matt Catizone, holding him to seven points as they blew the game open in the second half en route to a 63-48 victory.
Salem moves on to the North quarterfinals on Monday night at 7 p.m. against No. 4 Brighton at Madison Park.
?Woburn had a lot of excellent players,” Doyle said. “That is a really good team that we beat.”
Salem (17-6) played with the lead from the very start as Catizone got into early foul trouble. The Witches led 17-8 at the end of one quarter but couldn?t put Woburn away thanks to the play of Jimmy McRae.
With Catizone struggling to shake the tight defense of Joel Nunez, it was McRae who rallied Woburn back into the game. He scored 10 first-half points and helped the Tanners cut the deficit to 28-23 by halftime.
?We did a really good job on Catizone but they were able to hit some threes and stay in the game,” Doyle said.
The Witches put the hammer down at the start of the third quarter, opening the half with a 7-2 run and eventually pushing the lead to 48-30 by quarter?s end.
One of the big reasons for the onslaught was a balanced attack for Salem. Four players finished in double figures, led by 16 points by point guard Kelven Perpetuo.
Nunez added 13 points to go with his defense. Alex Sanchez scored 12 second-half points and Bryan Martinez finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.Woburn attempted to battle back in the fourth quarter, getting within 12 on a Catizone three with four minutes to go. But the Witches cruised to the win.