SALEM — After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Salem boys basketball team started clicking and ended up pulling away from Northeastern Conference foe Saugus in a 60-46 win at Veterans Memorial Field House Friday night.
“It was a hard-fought game the whole way even though we had control,” said Salem coach Tom Doyle. “We didn’t have a comfortable lead until very late in the game, so we had to battle the entire game. It was a great high school basketball game, and I thought our guys responded when they needed to in all different ways.”
Prior to the game, Sam Kheboian — Salem’s athletic trainer — held a moment of silence and said a few words about former Saugus coach Mark Bertrand, who died in December after a tragic accident.
Senior Ethan Doyle led the way for Salem with 15 points on five 3-pointers, while senior Jorge Guerrero notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Bobby Jellison was close behind with 12 points and eight rebounds, senior Guillermo Pimentel had nine points and three rebounds and senior Tommy Beauregard had eight points and five rebounds.
For Saugus, junior Tyrone Manderson led all scorers with 20 points and seven rebounds. Senior Myles Manalaysay added seven points and four rebounds, while seniors Kyle McLaughlin (six points, two rebounds), and Mason Nickolas (five points, eight rebounds) also played well in the loss.
“It’s a little tough because it’s our third hard-fought game in three nights and I think we just ran out of gas towards the end,” said Saugus co-head coach Bill Cahill. “We’re a young team, we weren’t able to rebound the ball at key moments and Salem hit their threes, and that’s how a six-point game late turns into a double-digit loss.”
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with Saugus jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the opening minutes before Salem battled back to take an 8-7 lead. Following two more lead changes, Salem was able to take a 16-14 lead into the end of the first.
The second quarter is where Salem gained its foothold and started to take control. Behind great ball movement and big-time shooting, the Witches were able to extend their lead to as many as eight points before taking a 32-25 lead into the halftime break.
Still, Saugus wouldn’t go away. The Sachems battled back to within three points in the early part of the third quarter, but Salem was quickly able to right the ship and take a six-point lead — 44-38 — into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, Salem was able to hit some big shots at the right time and turn its six-point lead into a 13-point lead in the blink of an eye. From there, the Witches were able to coast to victory over the final two minutes of play.
Saugus (2-7) plays on the road at Winthrop Monday afternoon (2).
“They key for us is just continuing to stay positive and keep coming ready to play each day,” said Sachems co-head coach Joe Bertrand. “We’re playing better basketball than we were two weeks ago, so we’ve just got to keep that going and close the year on a positive note.”
Salem (8-2) has a little over 12 hours off before playing its fourth game in as many days Saturday afternoon (12) against Winthrop.
“It’s a little tough because we have to create our own energy after playing a bunch of nights in a row,” said Doyle. “These are the days when you wish you had fans out there to psych the guys up. But we’re just trying to take each day as it comes to us and continue to play solid basketball.”
