LYNN — It’s never easy playing the same opponent twice in a week, let alone when it’s a city rivalry.
Thursday night saw the KIPP Panthers (2-4) and Lynn Tech Tigers (6-2) go toe-to-toe, with Tech making a few more plays late in the game to win, 59-57.
Unlike last week’s 15-point finish that favored Tech in the Walter J. Boverini tournament, this one went down to the final seconds.
KIPP led 54-50 with 2:42 remaining, but Tech star Ederick Gonzalez scored in the post to chop away at the deficit.
But on the next possession, Tolu Abosede (21 points) drilled one from downtown, erupting the Panthers’ gym.
“We always tell Tolu to use his powers for good. He’s one of the most athletic guys in the region,” said KIPP coach Moody Bey. “He’s super quick, can shoot the ball really well, and is aggressive on defense. When he’s there mentally, he’s one of the best players on the court and can have the biggest impact on the game.”
But these Tigers – they never quit, rallying off six consecutive points to get the game to within one (57-56).
On Tech’s next possession, it looked to senior leader Gonzalez who delivered with another strong move under the rim to take the lead (58-57).
“It was a hard-fought conference game. This is what you’re going to get in these conference games,” said Tech coach Corey Bingham. “KIPP is doing a great job over here. They have a great atmosphere. In college or high school basketball, conference games are one of the toughest, especially if you just played them. They know what you want to do and you know what they want to do. It’s all about the will. Our guys in the fourth quarter showed their will.”
After a Gonzalez free throw, the Panthers pushed the ball up the court and Bey called a timeout with the clock reading 0.4 seconds. After the refs discussed, they put 3.5 seconds back on the clock.
The Panthers came out of the timeout ready to go, but their inbound play failed to execute.
“Hats off to them. It was a great game from start to finish. In high school basketball, there will be a lot of ups and downs, but games like this make you better,” Bey said. “At the end of the day, Tech got better and we got better because of this game. You don’t win a championship today – you win it in February and March. Today was a good step towards becoming a championship team.”
A postgame Bingham praised his seniors.
“Thirty of the 32 minutes were kind of shaky, but in the fourth quarter, our seniors showed their will,” Bingham said. “Ederick, Cesar (Reyes), and Jayden (Welch) were big. Our guards got us into our sets and our seniors led us. It was an overall team game, though. We had three players with 10 points today.”
Bingham singled out Reyes (10 points) for his much-needed energy off the bench.
“Cesar Reyes was the X-factor for us today. He came in and gave us that energy we needed off of the bench,” Bingham said. “That’s all you can ask for as a coach – a senior coming out and giving his all.”
When asked about the difference between Thursday’s performance and last week’s, Bey said, “I think the kids didn’t like how they felt in the first matchup.”
“[It was] getting embarrassed in the Lynn tournament in front of your family, friends, and neighbors,” Bey said. “They took it as a challenge to put a better performance against them today, and I think they did that. There’s a lot of things that could have happened in a two-point game and there’s things we can coach and work on from a game like this.”
The Panthers will travel to Lowell Catholic on Tuesday with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tech’s next game is the same day against Greater Lowell.
