LYNN — The Classical boys basketball team didn’t get off to the best start Thursday night, but the Rams pushed through and earned a 63-52 win over Northeastern Conference foe Swampscott.
“(Swampscott) jumped on us early and we were letting (Cam) O’Brien get a ton of open shots,” said Classical coach Jasper Grassa. “But we were able to eventually make him put the ball on the floor and rely on our defensive rebounding, which was not great until the end of the game. But we were able to get some clutch points and clutch stops at the right times to get the win.”
Jeff Hill Jr. led the way for Classical with 20 points, while Jayden Thornton added 14 points. Brandon Summers had 10 points and three rebounds, Jadden Gonzalez had six points and Jeff Barbosa had four points and 10 rebounds.
For Swampscott, O’Brien had 20 points to pace the offense. Andrew Augustin added 10 points and seven rebounds, while Liam Hamilton had seven points and 13 rebounds. Oscar Hale had four points and seven rebounds.
“We came out the way we wanted and we were the aggressors early,” said Swampscott coach Jason Knowles. “But Classical is a very talented team and they were able to adjust. We got into some foul trouble late, and the way (Classical) can shoot the ball we just couldn’t make a big enough comeback.”
Swampscott came out of the gate on fire, thanks mostly to the play of a red-hot O’Brien. The Big Blue opened up an early 11-5 lead behind three 3-pointers from O’Brien, who scored 14 points in the first quarter alone. Classical eventually rallied back to take a 14-13 lead, but Swampscott grabbed it right back and took a 22-17 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter saw the Rams take the lead back in the early minutes and hold onto it until halftime. But it wasn’t easy.
Classical opened the quarter on a 7-0 run behind solid play from Thornton, taking a 24-22 lead with just over five minutes in the half. But Swampscott remained close, trading baskets with the Rams until the Big Blue were able to tie the score at 31-31 with one minute left. After a made free throw from Graham Inzana and two made free throws from Thornton, Classical went into the halftime break with a slim 34-32 lead.
The game remained close the rest of the way. Classical got into a little more of an offensive groove in the second half, moving the ball around and getting some quality shots and chances at the free throw line. The Rams also did a better job of shutting down O’Brien, who only scored six points over the final three quarters of play.
But despite their solid play, the Rams could only get as much as a 5-point lead in the third quarter. Going into the fourth, Classical only led 48-45.
The Rams extended their lead to as many as nine points in the final frame, going up 56-47 with four minutes to go. Swampscott once again rallied back to within four points, but it came at the cost of some foul trouble. Over the final minute of play, Barbosa and Summers both hit key free throws for the Rams to seal the victory.
Next up for Swampscott (0-3) is a trip to Springfield Saturday night (7) for a game against Southwick Regional High School.
“It’ll be a good bonding trip for us, we’ll spend the day together at the Basketball Hall of Fame before the game,” said Knowles. “We’re just going to continue to work hard in practice and believe in ourselves and these games should start to go in our favor.”
Classical (2-0) is right back in action Friday night (7) with a game against Somerville at Bunker Hill Community College.
“It’ll be a different kind of team from the one we faced (Thursday), they’ll probably be a little bigger and a little more athletic,” Grassa said of Somerville. “But we’re just going to try to keep it rolling and hopefully get off to a better start. I think these guys are ready.”
