LYNN — The Swampscott boys basketball team, which cracked the top-10 of the Division 3 power rankings for the first time this week, continued its stellar season with a 90-27 victory over Lynn Tech in a non-conference bout on the road Friday night.
The Big Blue, which started the season at 2-4, have now won 13 games in a row.
“I think coming into the season, we all felt like we were capable of big things,” said Swampscott coach Jason Knowles. “We have a ton of guys who love basketball and who are intent on getting better every day, and that’s where it starts. We had a slow start for plenty of reasons, but we’ve really hit our stride lately. We made it a goal of ours before the season to be ranked in the top 10 by the end of the year, so to be able to hit that goal feels really good for the team.”
Ryan Ward led the way for the Big Blue with 23 points, while Liam Wales wasn’t far behind with 18 points of his own. Riad Benagore added 11 points in the win. But the big story for Swampscott was the fact that a number of bench players saw time on the court and registered points in the scorebook.
“We had a lot of guys see time who normally don’t get out there, and they all played really well,” said Knowles. “We’re always trying to build up our bench and make ourselves as deep as possible, so it’s great to see that work in practice pay off in a game like this.”
The Big Blue didn’t waste any time getting ahead in this one, jumping out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter before doubling up that lead by halftime. The reserves started to file into the game in the third quarter for Swampscott, and by the fourth quarter the lineup had been completely overturned.
Tech (2-15) takes on Mystic Valley Monday morning (11:30).
Swampscott (15-4) finishes out the season Wednesday (1) against Saugus.
“We’re looking forward to it because we always have great games against Saugus,” said Knowles. “For some reason, we always match up really well and the games are always close. You can throw the records out the window for that one.”