SAUGUS — Peabody traveled to Saugus Tuesday night and played spoiler to the Sachems’ Senior Night. In a game of runs, the Tanners responded to every run Saugus went on, earning them a hard-fought 65-53 victory.
Entering the fourth quarter, Peabody held a 44-38 lead. One of Peabody’s top scorers, Anthony Forte (16 points), struggled with his shot early on in the frame. However, Raphel Laurent (15 points) and Shea Lynch (eight points) stepped up when things mattered most.
Of Laurent’s 15 points, nine of them came in the final quarter. He often utilized his speed and quickness to go past his initial defender before using his athleticism to get to the rim.
“Raphel really stepped up and hit some big buckets for us to get us some separation,” Peabody head coach Thad Broughton said. “We liked Raphel’s matchup so we decided to get him the ball and he made phenomenal decisions going to the basket. Big credit goes to him tonight.”
Broughton described Lynch as the team’s “glue” as he easily finds open players and sets hard screens to free up Tanners for open looks.
“He [Lynch] doesn’t come out of the basketball game for a reason. He’s like the energizer bunny. He does everything on offense and defense. He’s a phenomenal leader,” Broughton said.
Then, after a quick 5-0 run from the Sachems, they cut the lead to three (46-43) after a Ben Tapia-Gately (15 points) triple. But every time they made a run, Peabody responded. This time it was Laurent with a layup in traffic followed by an offensive tip-in to extend the Tanners’ lead to 52-43.
“Peabody made great plays on offense,” Saugus head coach Joe Bertrand said. “Every time we went on a run, they responded. We had an answer for their run and they had an answer for our runs. They made that last run at the end and that was the game – credit to them.”
Bertrand was complimentary of the Tanners’ defense, saying they “wore” his team down.
“We got a little bit tired and missed a couple of shots that we normally make,” Bertrand said. “They played a great game and just battled us all game long.”
Peabody went on a 12-2 run in the middle of the quarter to put the game out of sight.
Despite failing to hit shots in the fourth quarter, Saugus senior Chris Flynn (16) couldn’t miss in the first half. Flynn began the action scoring the Sachems’ first eight points, including two deep threes.
Unfortunately for Saugus, it wasn’t enough as the Tanners continued to stay composed.
“They kept making run after run at us. We would get up by eight, nine, 10 points and then they would get it down to three or four,” Broughton said. “I thought our guys stayed composed, especially down the stretch.”
Peabody’s next game is Friday when it hosts Revere with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Saugus looks to bounce back on the same day in a road matchup against Trinton at 6:30 p.m.
