SWAMPSCOTT — Not every game lives up to its hype, but this one did.
The Lynn Tech boys basketball team faced off against the Big Blue of Swampscott Thursday night, battling for the full 32 minutes. In a game of runs, the Tigers (4-1) ran out of Swampscott (3-1) with a 68-59 win.
In a game this close, teams need a difference-maker. Tech’s Ederick Gonzalez obliged, scoring a game-high 33 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.
“Ederick Gonzalez had it going tonight, so we had an interior mismatch. He’s had three straight double-doubles,” said Tech coach Corey Bingham. “He’s been a man on a mission and we need that. [It’s] his senior year, and he’s hungry.”
Swampscott head coach Jason Knowles said it was difficult to contain the Tigers’ big man.
“He plays very hard,” Knowles said. “We knew what we were up against watching [him] against East Boston. I thought in the first half, we did a good job on him, but in the second half, we did not.”
Swampscott held a 35-25 lead at the break, many thanks to Nakeylen Davis (22 points). Despite his big plays on offense, it’s his energy that stood out to Knowles.
“More than anything, he brings a level of energy that brings everyone else up,” Knowles said. “He has the ability to shoot the three, or he can drive to the basket. He brings another element to our team that we were lacking last season. We’re happy to have him and he works well with our other guys.”
Coming out of halftime, the Tigers looked like the team from last year on the defensive end, energetic and motivated to grab each and every loose ball.
“We like to create havoc and be fast with it,” Bingham said. “In the second half, we kept their guards in front of us a lot better than in the first half. We got in Swampscott’s face in the second half and started to force turnovers.”
In addition to causing turnovers, Tech’s big men started to mark their territory in the paint. Between Gonzalez and Jayden Welch (20 points, 8 rebounds), the Tigers pounced for the lead going into the final quarter (48-43).
“Jayden was a monster in the third quarter and we need him to play like that every game,” Bingham said.
Knowles believes his team has taken a “step back” defensively (compared to the first two games of the season), but believes there are takeaways from the game.
“Defense is supposed to be our identity this year. I felt the first two games, we did a great job, but the last two games, I think we took a step back a tiny bit,” Knowles said. “We’ll have to go back to our roots. We have to build off this loss and I think we can take a few things away from this game.”
The Tigers continued their hard-press defense and kept finding their bigs down low, walking out winners in the end.
