SAUGUS — The Saugus boys basketball team (6-3) was massively undersized Wednesday night against Triton, but used quickness to get the upper hand and win 63-49 at home. Ben Tapia-Gately paced the Sachems with 16 points.
Saugus was down 27-24 at halftime, and coach Joe Bertrand made adjustments to counter the Vikings’ height. His solution: speed.
“They’re a big team, so we wanted to use our speed to try and speed them up to play our game,” Bertrand said.
The Sachems pressed the Vikings, forcing them into several turnovers. The turnovers allowed the Sachems to get easy baskets and set their offense up before the Vikings could form their zone defense.
“Our press picked up. We let our defense turn into our offense,” Bertrand said.
One player who was especially successful in the press was Tapia-Gately. Playing like a free safety, he constantly roamed away from his man to intercept long-range passes from the Vikings.
“He led our defense with his active hands,” Bertrand said. “[His active hands] got us a bunch of steals which sparked our comeback.”
Saugus took the lead (42-40) going into the fourth quarter thanks to a layup from Isiah Rodriguez (five points) with 10 seconds left in the third.
The Sachems got their offense clicking and extended their lead. Sharpshooter Chris Flynn (nine points) buried back-to-back threes with 4:30 left in the game to give the Sachems a 52-42 lead.
The press not only played to Saugus’ strengths, but it took the Vikings’ leading scorer on the night, Ethan Tate, out of his flow.
Tate finished the game with 31 points, but just 10 of them came in the second half. The press limited Tate – who barely touched the ball – to two points in the fourth quarter.
Despite his slow fourth, Bertrand remained impressed with Tate.
“He’s tough. He’s long and he made a lot of tough shots. He is a really good player,” Bertrand said.
Josh Osawe (11 points) iced the game with an and one layup to put Saugus up 15 with less than two minutes remaining. Saugus ended the game on a 17-7 run to pick up its sixth win of the season.
After losing their last two games, the Sachems are back after a physical, hard-fought win – one Bertrand is proud of.
“It was a scrappy win with both teams playing good defense. Luckily, our offense came alive in the fourth quarter,” Bertrand said.
Saugus is back in action Friday night at Masconomet with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
