The Marblehead boys basketball team was in position to come out with a road win Tuesday night over Peabody. The Magicians fell short in the closing minutes of the game, as they were defeated by the Tanners 64-58.
Peabody took an early 4-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, as Marblehead appeared to be a little uncomfortable in the early stages. The Magicians settled in after they saw their first shot go down – a three-point make by junior Nick Lemmond. The Magicians seized the momentum for the final five minutes of the first quarter, finishing the frame on a 18-4 run and holding an 18-8 lead at the end of the first.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Magicians’ senior guard Ty Countrymon had the ball deflected from him at the top of the key, but retrieved the loose ball and decided to pull up from 30-feet away, which he swished. Marblehead extended its lead to 11 (21-10) and appeared to be taking control of the game. But Peabody battled back, finishing the quarter outscoring Marblehead 17-12, and trimming the Magicians’ lead down to five (30-25) at the end of the first half.
As Marblehead held a 47-41 lead heading into the fourth, it was a see-saw final quarter. The Magicians went up 56-51 midway through after Countrymon scored on a reverse layup off an offensive rebound. It looked as though Marblehead was, again, going to take control, but the Tanners kept fighting back as Anthony Forte finished a reverse layup of his own on the ensuing possession to cut the Marblehead lead to three (56-53). The Tanners scored the next four points of the frame and took a 57-56 lead with just over two minutes left. On the next Marblehead offensive possession, Isaiah Makor skied high to corral an offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer and was fouled in the process. Makor made both clutch free throws and gave the Magicians the lead back 58-57 with 1:56 left. But with 46.7 seconds left on the clock, Peabody’s Raphel Laurent drilled a corner three which gave the Tanners the lead for good (60-58).
Marblehead head coach Mike Giardi feels what happened at the end of the game will help his team down the road.
“We lost sight of what we wanted to accomplish at the end,” Giardi said. “We wanted to force Forte into tough shots, and we became too worried about the outside shot, and they were able to beat us with some reverse cuts to the basket. There were a couple rebounds we needed to get that we didn’t, and we had a couple finishes that didn’t go down for us in the paint. It is one of those things where we did not play the way we wanted to, and the ball did not bounce our way tonight. You must find a way to overcome those things, we were not able to tonight, but I feel we will be able to overcome this type of adversity the next time it presents itself.”
Along with Commoss, Makor had an impressive performance for the Magicians, as he recorded a double-double (12 points and 13 rebounds). Marblehead’s record now sits at 5-3, and the Magicians look to bounce back against Swampscott Friday night.
