The Peabody boys basketball team had the luxury of finishing its 2022-23 regular season in front of its home crowd Friday night. Against Revere, the Tanners did not disappoint, handling the Patriots 69-53.
Revere came out of the gates fast, racing to a 7-2 lead three minutes into the game. The Tanners made an early substitution as senior Nathan Braz entered the game midway through the first quarter – the switch paid off.
Braz connected on two consecutive three-pointers to help Peabody get within one by the end of the first quarter (16-15).
The Tanners’ defense started the game off man-to-man, but head coach Thad Broughton switched to a trapping zone defense, which was key in changing the momentum.
“Revere really shot the ball well early and did a great job getting by us and creating open shots,” Broughton said. “I felt our zone defense ended up being the right matchup against Revere after seeing the first quarter play out.”
The Tanners trailed 23-22 three minutes into the second quarter, but finished the final five minutes on a 17-6 run.
Key plays in the run were when junior Anthony Forte drove hard to the baseline and found fellow junior Raphel Laurent wide open for a top of the key three-pointer, which he swished to make things 25-23 in favor of Peabody with 4:08 left.
A couple minutes later, the Tanners executed a perfect give-and-go as senior Danny Barrett found an open Laurent cutting to the basket, who finished the open layup.
Peabody took a 37-29 lead into halftime. Then, the Tanners picked up right where they left off in the second as Forte swished a three on Peabody’s first offensive possession of the third quarter.
The Tanners outscored the Patriots 21-11 in the third, and Forte was the biggest reason for Peabody’s dominance in the frame. Broughton wasn’t surprised.
“Anthony has been our guy all year,” Broughton said. “Anthony made a couple early threes in the second half, and the rest of the team really got energized once he got going. It is always great to see when one of our guys gets going – how much of a positive effect it has on the rest of the team.”
Forte finished the third scoring 12 of the Tanners’ 21 points, and had a SportsCenter top-10 worthy highlight in the quarter. Forte tracked down a long offensive rebound, euro-stepped by a Patriot and finished a contested layup – all while drawing a foul in the process. Peabody led 51-36 after Forte completed the and-one situation and never looked back.
Forte led the way for the Tanners (game-high 26 points and four steals). Laurent (15 points), senior captain Shea Lynch (nine points, six rebounds, and five assists), and senior captain Barrett (five points and five assists) all played major roles for Peabody.
“I felt Danny, along with Anthony, did a great job creating a lot of pressure on Revere’s guards,” Broughton said. “Raphel did a nice job scoring, especially late in the game when Revere made one last run at us. Shea also did a good job being all over the floor and being a leader on this team.”
Peabody finished the season with a 15-5 overall record, and now awaits seeding for the MIAA Division I state tournament.
