LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield boys basketball team got off to a slow start but recovered nicely in the second half to notch a win over Georgetown, 67-59, at Lynnfield High on Monday night. The Pioneers got some big second-half performances out of Zach Shone, Billy Arseneault, Daniel Jameson and Matt Mortellite in the win.
“[Georgetown] has size and strength, which is something we don’t have, so it was tough out there,” said Lynnfield coach Scott MacKenzie. “But overall the effort was what we wanted, and at this stage of the season, we’ll take the win for sure.”
It was Jameson who led the way in scoring, hitting five three-pointers and finishing with 20 points overall. Arseneault added 18 points, Shone had 15 points and Mortellite pitched in five points and a team-leading 11 rebounds.
Lynnfield didn’t get off to the greatest start, forcing some shots early on and falling into an 8-1 hole. But the Pioneers fought back to retake the lead, 14-12, before ending the first quarter with a one-point lead, 18-17.
For much of the first half, the Pioneers had trouble containing Georgetown forward Hunter Lane, who finished the game with 28 points and 14 rebounds. But to Lynnfield’s credit, 22 of those points came in the first half, meaning the Pioneers were able to make the appropriate second-half adjustments.
“This was the first time we saw him live, we’d only seen him on film before this and we knew he’d be a handful,” MacKenzie said of Lane. “And he was a monster in that first half, so we wanted to do our best to take him away and make other players beat us, and that worked for the most part in the second half.”
The game continued in a back-and-forth manner in the second quarter, as Georgetown’s Stephen MacDonald hit a three on the opening possession of the second to give the Royals the lead back. But again, Lynnfield battled back and retook the lead, this time on a big three-pointer from Jameson. At the break, the Pioneers held onto a slim 32-31 advantage.
The Royals fought back again in the third quarter, tying the score and eventually taking the lead with just under three minutes left in the period. But then Arseneault scored four straight points and Jameson nailed two clutch threes to help the Pioneers extend the lead to their biggest of the game at eight points. Still, a quick Georgetown run to close the quarter left Lynnfield only up by two heading into the fourth, 45-43.
The Pioneers were able to stretch the lead out once again in the fourth quarter, mostly behind Jameson and Arseneault. Georgetown started launching threes from all over and hitting a bunch, keeping the game close until the very end. But after Shone went off for nine points in the final three minutes, the Pioneers never looked back and got the win.
“We struggled for a good portion of the game offensively, so it was nice to see us get that kind of production down the stretch to get the win,” said MacKenzie.
Now at 13-3, Lynnfield’s playing for seeding in the state tournament. But there’s also the possibility of a Cape Ann League title in the cards for the Pioneers, and that’s what MacKenzie and the team are looking at now.
“Seeding’s hard because there are so many good teams, but we’re just now starting to talk about the possibility of a league title,” said MacKenzie. “So we’re acknowledging it, and hopefully we can put a number up on the banner this year.”
Lynnfield plays Triton on Friday.
