SWAMPSCOTT — There were plenty of celebrations on Tuesday evening as Lynn Tech’s junior guard Giovanni Jean registered his 1,000th point in Lynn Tech’s 50-43 win over Swampscott.
Jean entered the game 18 points shy of the milestone and finished with 21. At halftime, he was eight points away and slowly chipped away. With under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Jean was fouled and sent to the line sitting on 999 points. Jean, stuck to his normal routine, and hit nothing but net to mark 1,000 career points.
“Gio and Andy [Bautista] helped turn this program around. To see where Gio started to now, I’m like a proud dad. I’m just happy for the kid. From the work he put in, but he’s a team player he grabs rebounds, he provides assists, for Gio it’s not just about his scoring he’s just that good,” Lynn Tech coach Corey Bingham said. “It’s a proud thing to watch him achieve a goal he set. Your teammates have to believe in you too and his teammates did. It’s a wonderful thing to see.”
The game was a scrappy game Bingham described as the teams combined for 30 first half points with the Tigers leading at halftime 17-13.
The Tigers defense continued in the third quarter holding Swampscott to just 12 points across the second and third quarters.
“The last four games we’ve been playing Lynn Tech defense. We’ve been playing the defense where we force the other team to do things they don’t want to do. That’s our identity and that’s what we have to stick to,” Bingham said. “Swampscott plays great help defense and they cover the entire court. Hats off to them because they made us work from the beginning to the end.”
Lynn Tech led for the entire second half, but Swampscott kept fighting and cut the game to seven with 23 seconds left thanks to timely baskets by captain Connor Chiarello (23 points) down the stretch.
Despite the loss, Swampscott head coach Jason Knowles believed his team’s defense was a positive to take from the game.
“The defense was decent tonight. I think we gave up too many free throws tonight, but defense was probably the better part of our game,” Knowles said.
Regarding the offensive struggles between the second and third quarter, Knowles was happy with his team’s shot selection, but the ball just didn’t fall.
“We had good looks. I just think the ball wasn’t falling. In the fourth quarter, the ball started falling and we were able to make it a game,” Knowles said. “We can’t come out cold like that. In the games we’ve done well and we came out hot, there are a number of them like against Marblehead and Saugus. Today was a game where we came out cold. Credit to Lynn Tech, they play great defense and are tough, but we have some things to work on.”
Another player who provided a spark for the Tigers was Brandon Antwine who knocked down four threes and finished the game with 16 points.
“Brandon is our glue guy. Every team needs a player like that. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t score because he does everything else. He’s a great rebounder and a tremendous defender,” Bingham said. “I think he has to be the defensive player of the year for the conference, definitely for our team. He’s been playing lights out the last four games and we just need that to continue.”
Lynn Tech will look to keep up the winning ways on Friday when the Tigers travel to Shawsheen Valley Tech for a 7 p.m. game. Swampscott will look to bounce back on the road against Northeastern Conference rival Beverly on Thursday at 7 p.m.
