LYNN — Featuring two of the top guards in the City of Lynn – KIPP’s Trosky Peña and Lynn Tech’s Giovanni Jean – Thursday night’s matchup was never going to disappoint.
In the end, Peña (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) and the Panthers earned bragging rights after a 69-62 win inside of KIPP Academy’s Woodsum Gymnasium.
The first quarter was low-scoring with the Tigers leading, 6-5, with three minutes remaining. Then, Peña started to make his mark on the game. The Panthers went on a 10-2 run to close the first quarter (10-8) with the senior guard scoring eight of the team’s 10 points.
“That’s what opened up the game. Trosky is a senior and has two league All-Stars under his belt and is on pace to score his 1,000th point this year,” said KIPP coach Moody Bey. “This is exactly what I expect from Trosky. He’s kind of that guy where if things aren’t falling, we give him a touch and he’s the band-aid for our team.”
In the second quarter, KIPP started to get hot behind the arc thanks to senior sharpshooter Ryan Damian (19 points), who drilled four threes in the second quarter to give the Panthers a 39-23 halftime lead.
“We talk about being a star in our role, and that’s Ryan. He loves it; the team loves it. Every time Ryan gets the ball, everybody on our side believes it’s going in,” Bey said. “Finally, over the last couple of weeks, the opposing teams now believe when he shoots, it’s going in. Teams are starting to adjust to him, but I think he’s one of the best shooters in the area. It’s kind of a running joke I have with him that he’s always the second-best shooter in the gym behind me. No matter where on the court he’s at, every time he touches it, we expect it to go in.”
Lynn Tech coach Corey Bingham pointed to the first half as Thursday’s difference.
“We came out sluggish from the start. It just wasn’t Lynn Tech basketball,” Bingham said. “Hats off to KIPP. They played the game the right way. They were physical and I think that’s our biggest issue right now – we’re not physical enough. Every team is pushing us around and our guys are looking for fouls. When adversity hits, you see who’s who. We need to dig down deep and find out who we are as a team and as a program.”
KIPP upped its lead to 22 points in the third quarter before Jean (28 points, 6 rebounds) started to heat up for Tech. He finished the game with 27 points and helped the Tigers claw back and make it a six-point deficit (49-43) heading to the fourth quarter.
“Lynn Tech is a really talented team. They’re defending league champs for a reason. I would have been surprised if they didn’t make a run, so we knew they were going to get back into the game,” Bey said. “This is like a boxing match. We know so many heavyweights can throw punches, but not many can take them. I think we did a good job taking punches and I’m impressed with our chin. If that’s how we take a punch, I’m happy.”
Despite getting the game to within five points, the Panthers hit their free throws and kept Tech at an arm’s distance to secure the win.
“We fought back and didn’t lay down. We just can’t keep starting games going down big because then, we have to waste all of that energy to get back,” Bingham said. “We’ll get back to practice and straighten a few things out.”
KIPP looks to keep the momentum going Tuesday when it welcomes Lowell Catholic at 6:30 p.m., while Tech travels to Greater Lowell Tech on the same day, also at 6:30 p.m.
