LYNN — The best basketball players in the area got together to put on a showcase at Lynn Classical for the final time in their high school careers. It was the South defeating the North 101-90.
St. Mary’s own David Brown (17 points) added another accolade to his already impressive trophy cabinet by picking up MVP for his team. Steven Cordeiro (17 points) of Everett was the MVP for team North.
In the first half North got out to an early lead, which was initiated by Micahel O’Brien (St. John’s Prep). O’Brien showed that even though he’s a center, he has handles, bringing the ball up before finding a teammate in the corner for three. On the very next possession, it was O’Brien this time showing his touch with a deep two to give his team a 26-15 lead. O’Brien finished the game with nine points.
Both teams showed they were rusty, struggling to hit from distance until Lynnfield’s Alex Gentile (9 points) showed off his range, drilling back-to-back threes to cut the lead to three (30-27).
“I hit a few shots that opened the floodgates when we were down a bit,” Gentile said.
Once Gentile hit those threes, it was as if everyone on the South team started to heat up.
Anthony D’Itria (St. Mary’s) followed Gentile’s quick six points with back-to-back threes of his own to tie the game at 33. D’Itria finished the game with nine points.
“It felt good [seeing the ball go in]. I’m a little rusty, I haven’t picked up a basketball as often as I used to,” D’Itria said. “Once the first one and then the second one went in, it felt good.”
The South went into halftime on a 15-3 run to lead 39-33.
In the second half, Brown did what he did throughout his career – make winning plays.
“At the start of the game we were just walking around, not really taking it seriously, and then at halftime we figured we might as well play hard,” Brown said. “I didn’t want to lose this game. Once we got down by nine I said I want to win this.”
Team North made a run to get the game to three points (91-88) with 1:45 left. When team South needed a basket, it was Brown who took the responsibility and delivered. Brown drove down the lane, finishing the contested layup to restore the two-possession lead.
“We just let David do his thing. It was close in the end but we managed to pull away,” Gentile said.
Team South, behind Brown’s 17 points, hung on to win 101-90.
“You play against these dudes all winter. It’s a blast to play with them,” Gentile said. “It’s the best competition in the area and it just shows that we have a lot of talent and good guys here. It was so much fun playing with all of them.”
“It was fun. We were lucky to have four St. Mary’s kids here, so we got to play with each other one last time in addition to the Peabody and Lynnfield guys,” D’Itria said. “It was fun to close it out in a fun way.”
After the game, South coach John Skerry (Medford) said he was “honored” to coach this game.
“For me, it was a total honor. When Mr. [Paul] Halloran reached out to see if I was interested in it, I said ‘definitely,’” Skerry said. “The Agganis game is legendary. This goes back way before I was even a player.”
Skerry admitted that “very little” coaching was done on the sidelines, and was glad to see no one get hurt.
“It got a little competitive, but no one got hurt,” Skerry said. “I’m happy to see the GBL guys represented. It’s also very nice to end the season with a win.”
