LYNNFIELD — It was deja vu all over again for the Lynnfield boys basketball team Saturday night at the high school.
For a second straight season in the North Division 3 tournament, the No. 2 seeded Pioneers (18-4) ran into a tough Watertown team that, simply put, was just too much to handle. The No. 7 Raiders (16-6) had their way with the No. 2 Pioneers, seizing the lead from opening tip off en route to a 62-44 win to advance to the semifinals against Pentucket, which defeated Hamilton-Wenham in an all-Cape Ann League quarterfinal, 56-52.
The Pioneers couldn’t buy a layup to save their lives and also had no answers for Watertown senior captain Julio Fulcar, who drained five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 32 points.
Lynnfield coach Scott MacKenzie offered no excuses after the game, and had high praise for Fulcar.
“It was just very reminiscent of last year in that we were within 10-12 points but it felt like 30, it just did,” he said. “They would never admit it, but I’m sure the kids felt that way too. We were doing every conceivable thing to stay afloat to keep from drowning, it was just a hard thing to do. Their physical aspect is their calling card. Unfortunately that’s not what we do, not what we match up against well. Most of the time when you get beat, you get beat by someone who is better than you and tonight we got beat by a better team.
“Fulcar is the best player hands down we saw this year,” MacKenzie added. “He is prob the best we have seen in a couple of years, and just the points or all the steals he had, but his ability to take the last five and a half minutes on his own and control the game. He is so smart and wow, just a stud. He was no doubt the difference in the game.”
With the Lynnfield High gymnasium filled to capacity — and then some — the atmosphere was electric. Both teams’ superfans were on full display with the Pioneers sporting army fatigues and the Raiders donned in beach wear, complete with zinc oxide, straw hats and an occasional beach ball being tossed about.
There is no denying that the rivalry between the two teams has escalated over the last year, no doubt fueling the passion of their respective fan bases.
“It’s a great division 3 rivalry and it seems like Lynnfield and Watertown are always playing each other now in various sports,” said Watertown coach Steve Harrington. “Lynnfield has a great athletic program here so it doesn’t surprise me that they are good in a number of sports.”
It was just a year ago that the Raiders’ basketball team used a smothering defense to ground the Pioneers’ high-flying offense in the North semifinals, 58-36.
Last fall, the Raiders’ football team broke the Pioneers’ hearts after pulling off a comeback for the ages in the North Division 5 championship game, New England Patriots style, scoring 14 points in the final 75 seconds of the game to steal a 38-34 victory and dash the Super Bowl dreams of Lynnfield, which seemed primed for a second trip to Gillette Stadium in the past five seasons.
Lest anyone in the Pioneers’ house may have forgotten that game, one Watertown fan made sure to keep the memory alive by displaying a sign throughout the entire game, complete with before and after scores.
Another painful reminder for the Lynnfield faithful was the presence of Raiders big man, John Korte. The 6-5 Korte laid the foundation for the Raiders comeback when he recovered an onside kick at the 50-yard line with 1:15 left in regulation.
Korte (14 points, 11 rebounds) wasted no time establishing his presence Saturday night. He won the opening tip off and gave the Raiders the lead for good on their very first possession with a power move along the baseline and layup. Three possessions later, he bulled his way through the lane for another layup and then completed a 3-point play to make it a 7-1 game with 5:48 to play in the first after being fouled by Lynnfield senior captain Zach Shone.
Shone (3 points) was in foul trouble early and spent most of the second quarter on the bench with three personals. He later fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter with a little under five minutes to play.
Watertown stretched the lead to 10-1 after a free throw and jumper by Yoseph Hamad (9 points). Lynnfield battled back and got the deficit down to six at the end of the quarter, 16-10 on a step-back 3-pointer by senior captain Billy Arseneault (19 points), then cut the lead down to four , 16-12, on a power baseline drive by senior Matt Mortellite (4 points) on the first possession of the second quarter, but that was as close as the Pioneers would come. The Raiders closed out the half with a 15-6 run to take a 31-18 lead into halftime.
Watertown still led by 13 at 42-29 late in the third quarter, but the Pioneers got the deficit down to eight, 42-34, with 40 seconds to go on a basket by senior Jay Ndansi (9 points) and baseline 3-pointer by sophomore Clay Marengi (both from Arseneault), but the Raiders closed out the quarter with a 4-0 run on a reverse scoop by Korte and a Fulcar layup after a steal by Hamad to lead by 12, 46-32, with eight minutes to go.
Watertown stretched the lead to as many as 17 with three minutes left, then went four corners to chew up the clock.
Fittingly, the final Pioneer points were scored by the only two senior captains remaining on the floor. Arseneault fed Dan Jameson (6 points) for a 3-pointer with 2:30 to go, then Arseneault drained a jumper with 1:31 to close to 58-44.
Harrington the difference in the game was Fulcar.
“He was just phenomenal and his ability to make shots gave us some separation at halftime unlike last year,” he said. “And his ability to guard Billy Arseneault, he is as good a point guard as we face and just an unbelievable player. We were glad just to have someone to keep him in check. Obviously Fulcar was the difference in the game tonight. Their ability to run starts with the point guard but Fulcar’s job on defense was to know where he was at all times and he was certainly our focus on defense.
“We rebounded the ball extremely well and limited them to one shot with very few second chance points. We were lucky enough to come out with a win tonight but I certainly have a lot of respect for coach MacKenzie and the rest of their team they have a bunch of good players.”
