ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Tommy Rijo led all scorers with 23 points in English’s 69-55 win over Revere.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — Tuesday night’s game between the English boys basketball team and Revere at Paul Cavanagh Field House was a tale of two halves. The Patriots gave English all they could handle for the first 16 minutes, but the Bulldogs pulled away with a big third quarter to get the win, 69-55.
Both coaches agreed that Revere’s turnovers and English’s big stops on the defensive end were the deciding factors.
“Our biggest struggle tonight was our turnovers,” Revere coach David Leary said. “I told my guys before the game started that our turnovers were going to lead to their scoring and energy and that’s exactly what happened. We just didn’t take care of the ball tonight.”
On the other side, English coach Steve Stranahan was pleased with his team’s efforts on defense.
“We went back to getting up on defense (in the second half),” Stranahan said. “We came out and got back to what we were doing, playing a full court zone and switching it up to man, full court. We just got after it and energized ourselves.”
Stranahan added, “When we got out on defense, we made shots on offense. The two go hand in hand.”
English’s Calvin Seng and Javonte Edwards each scored six points in the opening quarter. Edwards scored the first six points of the game for English. Seng’s two makes from beyond the arc paced the Bulldogs to a 16-11 lead after one.
“They’ve been playing very well the last few weeks,” Leary said of the Bulldogs. “We knew it was going to be a battle. We only beat them by three at our place earlier in the year. They’re super athletic and they play as a team.”
After a 6-2 run to open the second quarter, Revere slimmed the deficit to 18-17. Tommy Rijo hit a well-defended three to give English a cushion at 21-17. Revere’s Scott Montefusco answered with a three of his own at the buzzer to tie the game at 26-26 at the half.
In the third quarter, Ivenson Lopes took center stage. Lopes drained a trio of threes and scored 11 points in the period, which saw the Bulldogs outscore the Patriots 27-11. The key for English was the team’s makes from beyond the arc, as the Bulldogs knocked in six threes in the quarter.
“They shot the lights out tonight,” Leary said. “I haven’t seen them shoot the three like that all year.”
Leary added, “They went on a big run and we had to try and fight back in the fourth quarter, which I’m glad we didn’t quit.”
English’s threes gave the Bulldogs a 53-37 lead after three quarters.
“We made our threes and that worked really well,” Stranahan said. “It was a culmination, playing our defense. We made some threes and then we’d make a nice steal and Revere has to take a timeout. Anytime they have to take a timeout, we get energy.”
Revere trimmed English’s lead to eight points with a minute to play in the fourth quarter, but Edwards took the ball coast to coast for a breakaway bucket to put the win in the bag, 69-55.
Rijo led all scorers with 23 points, while Seng tallied 17 points and Edwards scored 16 on the night. Lopes scored 13 points, giving the Bulldogs four scorers in double-figures.
“We go as he (Lopes) goes,” Stranahan said. “He handles the ball extremely well and makes his shots.”
With the victory, English (9-7) is one win away from clinching a bid in the state tournament. English hosts Everett on Thursday.
“That’ll be a big test for us,” Stranahan said. “We’ll get to see how good of a team we are. Win or lose, if we go out and play with that effort and energy, that’s alright. Everett’s a great team but I think we are too.”
Revere (6-8), led by Curtis High’s 14 points, has work to do in hopes of reaching the tournament.
“The goal for all these guys is to try and get in,” Leary said. “The school hasn’t been in the tournament in 17, 18 years. We have the talent to do it. We just have to stay together as a group and not let a loss like this break us up.”
Revere will look to bounce back on Friday at Winthrop.
