PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Fenwick’s Ryan Veguilla takes a big step past Peabody’s Chris Canela.
By JOYCE EREKSON
PEABODY — Not all rivalry matchups live up to the billing, but Sunday afternoon’s clash between the Peabody High and Bishop Fenwick High boys basketball teams certainly did.
The Tanners escaped the cozy confines of the Fenwick gym with a 66-63 win, but it was a battle from start to finish. The lead bounced back and forth all game with Fenwick (4-6) going up by as many as 11 in the first quarter, only to see the Tanners roar back to cut the deficit to three by the half. By the end of the third quarter, it was an all-out war at 53-53.
The Tanners didn’t take the lead back for good until the fourth quarter when, with 3:43 remaining, Chris Canela hit a three and came right back down the court for two more to give his team 62-58 lead. The final few minutes saw Fenwick pull to within two at 62-60 before Junior Estrella buried a three to give Peabody a 65-60 lead with 1:28 remaining
Fenwick’s Nik Pignone, who terrorized the Tanners (7-2) from the perimeter all afternoon, hit his fifth three of the day with a little over a minute remaining to tighten things up again at 65-63, but the Tanners somehow managed to hold the fort in wild final minute to come away with the win.
“Any time these two teams play you know it’s going to be back and forth. This was a very well-played high school basketball game,” Peabody coach Thad Broughton said. “It’s always a lot of fun. These guys grew up together. For us to come away with a victory is huge. They’re a very good team.
The Tanners had three players in double figures. Estrella led the way with 17 points, followed by Canela with 16, Moisse Irizarry with 14 and Matt D’Amato with eight. Jake Irvine had five.
The Crusaders had huge performances from Pignone, who wrapped up the night with 17 points, and Klaus Llanaj, who also had 17 points. Jack Bowers (12 points), Ryan Veguilla (11 points) and Isaiah Cashwell-Doe, six points, also came up big.
Llanaj was force of nature in the first half. He scored 14 of his 17 points before the break with a pair of threes followed by two free throws in a span of about a minute and a half giving the Crusaders a 16-6 lead.
Fenwick led by nine at the end of the first quarter, but Peabody, or more specifically, Estrella, was just starting to heat up. Estrella score nine points in the second quarter, including a three with under two minutes remaining, that cut the Tanner deficit to two. Canela, who had been fairly quiet all game, also started to find his grove. His three followed by a two with 29 seconds remaining, gave the Tanners a 34-31 lead at the half.
Fenwick’s Pignone put on a show in the third quarter. He buried three threes on three straight trips down the court and the Crusaders back on top at 51-46. And so it went, with both sides hitting big shots at key times to keep it a two to four-point game until the final buzzer.
“I thought we made a couple of key buckets at the end and a couple of key stops when we needed them,” Broughton said. “At the beginning of the game they (the Crusaders) were very hot. They just have so many weapons. They can hit the threes, which they did a lot of tonight, and they can get to the hoop. I thought it was anybody’s game. We were very fortunate to come out with a win.”
Fenwick coach Kevin Moran expected a tough game and he got one.
“I thought it was an exciting game from the Bishop Fenwick side,” he said. “That team was good. They’re loaded with players. You saw Estrella there today, flying around. He’s tough to defend,” Moran said. “He makes it very difficult for you.”.
Moran had plenty to be happy about with his crew including the play of PIgnone, who is only a sophomore.
“He’s a great shooter. That kept us in the game,” Moran said. “He’s probably the best shooter in the program.”
Moran said his two senior captains, Cashwell and Veguilla, played very well as did Bowers.
“He (Bowers) had the wonderful job of covering Estrella,” Moran said, adding that he also came up with some big buckets.
Moran said rebounding has been a big issue this season and it was again against Peabody.
They’re such a big team,” he said. “Every sub who comes in seems to be bigger than the last one. That caused us a little trouble.”
