LYNN — KIPP Academy boys basketball coach Moody Bey feels that when his Panthers are thriving in their up-tempo game, few teams can play with them.
Rising Tide Charter School of Plymouth certainly couldn’t Wednesday.
The Herons were certainly no match for KIPP in the opening game of the Division 5 state tournament, as the Panthers broke out to a devastating start and rode it to an 83-45 win at the middle school gym.
No. 13 KIPP will play No. 20 Drury in the Round of 32 Friday (4:30) at home.
“We want to play our games into the 80s,” Bey said, “because I feel that once we get running, there aren’t a lot of teams that can play with us. That’s the way we like to play.”
The Herons were only able to muster one point in the first quarter — a free throw by Dylan Doherty. Meanwhile, the Panthers countered with 24 on shots of all angles and varieties. Very little of what KIPP did was wasted. The Panthers set the tone for the game by scoring the game’s first 17 points and never looked back.
Along the way, four Panthers hit for double figures: Trosky Pena (17), Sylvester Ogbemudia (13), Angel Guardado, and Bryce Peralta (10 each). In addition, several other KIPP players just missed double digits.
Bey was particularly impressed with Guardado, who came off the bench to score his points.
“Here’s a guy who had a couple of DNPs (did not play) this season,” Bey said. “It’s a testament to how deep we are that he can come in during a game like this and produce. I’m proud of him.”
Despite a 37-point halftime deficit, the Herons kept playing — and Bey was glad they did.
“They’re a tournament team,” he said. “They earned their spot. They kept playing.
“As for us, our goal isn’t just to win a preliminary game,” said Bey. “It’s to win a state championship. And it doesn’t matter if we’re up by 30 points at the half (it was 47-10), we had some things to work on, and I feel we got better for playing this game.”
Ethan Nordberg (20) and Eamon Godzik (22) scored all but three of their team’s points.
“They played from start to end, and they had a nice season,” said Bey. “Congratulations to them.”
Despite his love of up-tempo games, Bey knows that somewhere along the way, the Panthers will have to grind out a low-scoring game where halfcourt offense will be needed.
“We can do that too,” he said. “We have some playmakers on the team. But we’d rather run, because we’re much better in the open court.”
The win improves KIPP’s record to 12-9.
