SWAMPSCOTT — Besides a small hiccup in the second quarter, the Lynn Classical boys basketball team put forth a fairly dominant performance to take down Swampscott, 71-48, on Thursday night at Swampscott High.
“Except for that second quarter, I thought we really played well tonight,” said Classical coach Jasper Grassa. “When we move the ball around we can get all the shots we want, and we were able to do that well tonight for the most part.”
The Rams were led by Edwin Solis, who had 16 points and four rebounds with five three-pointers. Jaylen Johnson was right behind with 13 points and three rebounds, while Erick Solis had 11 points and two rebounds.
For Swampscott, Jake McIntire led the way with 14 points and two rebounds. Jackson Byrne had 10 points and five rebounds, Jahiid Allen Paisley had seven points and Kwest Tyler Lacy had four points and seven rebounds.
“We knew this would be a tough game for us and we needed to do a lot of things right to win it, but we got killed on the boards tonight,” said Swampscott coach Justin Fucile. “Add to that we’ve got a bunch of shooters who are ice-cold lately and it’s a tough uphill battle. But we still took a lot of positives out of this game and we’ll look to keep improving.”
Classical came out firing in this one, taking exactly what the defense gave them and knocking down 5-of-8 three-pointers in the first quarter alone. The Rams hit 12 threes as a team for the game.
“(Swampscott) just kept packing it in the middle, so I told the guys it was going to have to be a drive-and-kick kind of game until we got open shots,” Grassa said. “And then Edwin started getting hot and knocking them down and the other guys were able to do the same.”
“We knew Edwin is a really good shooter and we wanted to try to take him out of the game the best we could with a zone defense,” Fucile said. “But he did a great job not only finding his teammates for open shots, but also just knocking down shots himself.”
Behind some big shots from both Solis brothers as well as Johnson, the Rams held a 20-7 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Big Blue got their feet underneath themselves a bit and started to make a run. Byrne and McIntire led the way as Swampscott stormed back to pull the score to within eight and go into the half only trailing 35-27.
But Classical opened up the second half with a big 10-0 run to retain its comfortable lead, sparked by some good defense and timely shotmaking. By the end of the third quarter, Classical was up 53-36.
The fourth quarter saw many of the reserves hit the floor as the Rams coasted to their third win of the season.
The Big Blue (1-4) will have a full week off before visiting Stoneham next Thursday.
Next up for the Rams (3-0) is the Boverini Tournament next week, where Classical will open up with Tech. The competition this year will certainly be tough, as St. Mary’s, English, Classical and Tech all have talented squads.
“I’m excited for it,” Grassa said. “St. Mary’s handed us probably our worst loss last year, so it would be great to see them again, but they’ve still got to get through English, who has a whole new look this year. Plus Tech is playing really well, so anything can happen.”
