SAUGUS — In basketball sometimes one player can will his team to victory. On Monday evening at Saugus High School, KIPP’s Trosky Peña scored 30 points, 20 in the second half, to lead the Panthers to a comeback road victory over the Sachems 59-58.
With 14.2 seconds left in the game and the score tied at 58, Peña drove to the basket and got fouled as he was shooting. The senior guard went to the line and made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Panthers a one-point lead.
After a timeout by KIPP, Saugus had a chance to go ahead but their layup attempt with one second left fell short. KIPP overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half to get a big road victory.
It wasn’t looking positive for KIPP as Saugus got out to an early 13-5 lead after the first quarter. Saugus’ two big men Huey Josama and Ryan Dupuy gave KIPP trouble on both ends of the court.
Josama and Dupuy both scored 12 points each, but it was their impact on the glass that led to second-chance points for Saugus giving them the early lead.
“Huey and Ryan worked great together and made it tough for KIPP to score in the paint,” Saugus coach Joe Bertrand said. “They were a big part of why we were in it right until the end.”
KIPP was down eight (30-22) at halftime before Peña put the team on his back.
Peña scored 13 of KIPP’s 18 third-quarter points to get the Panthers back into the game. The crafty guard scored in several ways. Whether it was from behind the arc, midrange, or at the rim Peña was getting to his spots.
“It seemed like we were kind of stale to start the game and the whole first half. We didn’t find a good rhythm until he got us going. That’s his role. He knows for us to be a good team he has to be good,” KIPP coach Moody Bey said. “If there’s one matchup we have to bank on us winning it has to be Trosky. We can figure out the other four spots but we rely on him to win his matchup night in and night out.”
Despite putting up 30, what impressed Bey the most was Peña asking to guard Josama in the second half.
“The stats will show what he did offensively, but defensively he came to me at half and asked to guard their big guy who was killing us. I said he can guard him and he had a quieter second half,” Bey said. “We know what he can do on offense. There are a lot of guys in the area who can score a lot, but there aren’t a lot of guys who take pride in guarding their center when you’re a point guard. That’s what I’m going to take away from this game tonight.”
Despite the loss, Bertrand believes his team is on the right track, especially with the energy they played with against KIPP.
“KIPP is a very solid team and we need to bring that effort and energy every night,” Bertrand said. “We are only halfway through the season now and if we can continue to play this way we will start to see the results on the scoreboard.”
KIPP returns home on Thursday when it hosts Greater Lawrence Tech at 6:30 p.m. Saugus will look to bounce back at home on Friday against Salem with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
