PHOTO: BOB ROCHE
Lynnfield’s Brendan Sullivan takes a wide dribble to try to get past Hamilton-Wenham’s Nico Serpa.
By Gordon Vincent
LYNNFIELD – This year’s Hamilton-Wenham boys’ basketball team isn’t of the same caliber as last year’s undefeated Division 4 state championship squad. But the Generals are still pretty good.
Matt Hawke led Hamilton-Wenham with 16 points, while Ben Danforth and freshman Billy Whelan hit key 3-pointers in the final two minutes as the Generals (7-2; 7-1 Cape Ann League) held off Lynnfield, 50-44, Tuesday night at Lynnfield High.
Nick DiMarino added 13 points while Danforth chipped in with 11 for Hamilton-Wenham, which lost, among other key players from last season’s team, the talented Zegarowski brothers, who transferred to the Tilton School in New Hampshire.
“We knew their junior and sophomore classes were loaded, so they’re still a very good team,” Lynnfield coach Scott Mackenzie said. “The thing they do very well is make you pay for every mistake you make. They’re a smart, well-coached team.”
With 15 points, Louis Ellis was the only player in double-figures for Lynnfield. Still, the Pioneers (6-3; 4-3 CAL) were within one point twice in the last two minutes. After Michael Carangelo made a second-chance bucket to cut the Generals’ lead to 42-41, Whelan buried a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Hamilton-Wenham what appeared to be a relatively safe four-point lead, given the way both defenses were playing.
Carangelo sank a free throw and then Billy Arsenault (eight points) converted a layup after a nifty drive to the hoop to get the Pioneers back within one with 1:02 left in the game. Lynnfield nearly made the Generals exhaust the shot clock on their ensuing possession, but Danforth came up with a 3-pointer from the right elbow.
“Give them credit. We play great defense, and they hit that 3-pointer with one second left on the shot clock,” Mackenzie said. “It was a huge basket.”
Brendan Sullivan (nine points) got stuck under the hoop on Lynnfield’s next possession, and the Pioneers had to foul. Hawke – who was 8-for-8 on free throws in the second half – converted a pair from the line with 17.2 seconds left to put the game away.
Neither team led by more than five points in a first half that featured five lead changes and three ties. Hamilton-Wenham opened the only double-digit lead of the game when DiMarino converted a 3-pointer from the left wing and then Hawke made a pair of free throws when he was fouled on a drive to the basket to make the score 35-25 with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
The Pioneers chipped away, though, finally getting the game back to one possession when Ellis buried a 3-pointer from the left elbow and Arsenault made a running layup with 5:15 left in the game.
“One thing about these players is they never give up,” Mackenzie said. “Even when we were down by 10, I had a feeling we were going to make a run toward the end.”
