LYNN — Before the Walter J. Boverini Basketball Tournament even began, the news wasn’t good. The Lynn English-St. Mary’s girls preliminary game was scrubbed due to COVID-19 issues, and Lynn Tech boys coach Corey Bingham couldn’t make it due to COVID-19 protocols.
Thanks to those occurrences, the St. Mary’s girls automatically slide into Wednesday’s final (3:30), where they will play Lynn Classical, which easily defeated the Tech girls, 78-29, in the first of Tuesday’s three games at the Cavanagh Field House at English.
The Rams’ boys team also won easily Tuesday, defeating Tech, 73-37.
Coach Marvin Avery and the Classical boys sprinted off to a quick start and never looked back in defeating the Tigers.
Led by Jadden Gonzalez’ 27 points, Classical jumped out to a 17-7 lead after a quarter. But the game really began getting away from the Tigers the minute the second quarter began. That’s when Gonzalez (2) and Avery hit 3-pointers in rapid succession to put Classical in the lead, 26-7. Two free throws by Brian Jones of Tech stemmed the tide, but only momentarily. Classical kept pouring it on, and by halftime it was 45-15. Gonzalez (eight points) and the Rams kept the pressure on in the third quarter before Avery substituted freely in the final eight minutes.
“We have to give it up for Coach Avery,” said Tech assistant coach Stead Boudreau, coaching while Bingham remains quarantined. “There are definitely a couple of things we have to work on, but I’d just like to tip my cap to Classical and to Coach Avery.”
Boudreau played for Avery while they were both at Tech.
Avery said that there was little he could find fault with Tuesday with regards to his team, “but you know how it is. In basketball, there are always things to work on. There’s always room for improvement.
“But we have the size, and the speed, and as long as we stay together and they listen to the coach, we’re going to be fine,” Avery said.
Classical got strong games from Almani Medina (11 points) and captain Tyler Wilson (10).
Michael Welch led Tech with nine points, while Andre Young had seven.
The Tech boys (0-3) are now off until next Thursday (4), when the Tigers travel to Innovation.
The Classical boys (2-1) will take on St. Mary’s in the Boverini title game Wednesday evening (5:15) back at Cavanagh Field House.
The only girls game played Tuesday was a carbon copy of the boys game. Classical took a big lead after a quarter, and Tech couldn’t catch up.
Still, Tech’s Kaitlyn Wechsler was encouraged.
“I thought in the first half we showed a lot of enthusiasm and played very well,” she said. “But once they started pulling away in the second half, we kind of got defeated. But that can happen when you have a young team.”
Two of Tech’s starters — Dayana Hios-Edwards (nine points) and Jayleen Novas (five) are eighth graders.
Classical had balanced scoring, with Akiyah Brown (18 points), Ava Thurman (17) and both Lauren Hennessey and Reese Brinkler (10) leading the way.
“I thought in the second half, we were sharper,” said Classical coach Tom Sawyer. “We played better defense, and were able to pressure them into more turnovers, and get our transition game going.
“I was glad to see all of our players get some action,” Sawyer said.
Similar to the boys game, Classical jumped out to a 20-9 lead after a quarter, with Hennessey (six points), Thurman and Brown (four each) leading the way.
Tech hung with the Rams in the second quarter with the score 38-20 at the break.
However, Classical pulled far ahead of the Tigers in the third quarter, outscoring them 29-8, before substituting freely in the final eight minutes.
The Tech girls (2-3) are now off until next Friday (4), when the Tigers travel to Chelsea.
The Classical girls (4-0) will take on St. Mary’s in the Boverini title game Wednesday (3:30) back at Cavanagh Field House.
