LYNN — You could say there’s a friendly, but competitive rivalry budding between Lynn Classical (13-4) and Swampscott (11-7).
The teams squared off for the second time this season and for the second time, the road team captured a victory. Thursday night, Swampscott ended Classical’s red-hot winning streak with a 52-43 win.
“Marvin (Avery) and I go way back since I started here. We’ll continue to do this. It’s great. It’s close and I love the fact that we get to see a lot of different styles of basketball,” said Swampscott coach Jason Knowles. “Playing a team like this, which is a big team, I think it’s going to help us.”
Avery, head coach of the Rams, echoed Knowles and hopes to keep the non-league matchup going.
“I want to continue this for as long as I’m here,” Avery said. “That’s what it’s all about in high school basketball – to have fun. I like this challenge against Swampscott and it’ll help us prepare for the (state) tournament.”
Thursday night was close from start to finish, to boot. The Rams led by just three points (24-21) heading into halftime.
But from there, Swampscott’s talented duo caught fire in the third quarter. A 1,000-point scorer as of this week and junior captain, Connor Chiarello, and freshman teammate Teddy O’Neill combined for 19 of Swampscott’s 23 third-quarter points to give the Big Blue a 44-38 advantage.
“That’s who we want to get the ball and we wanted them to do their thing. That was our biggest talking point at halftime,” Knowles said. “In the third quarter, they were just hot.”
The two guards mixed it up, pulling up from 3-point range and using their zone defense to create turnovers. On the other side, Classical struggled from downtown and missed a handful of costly free throws.
“I think we were a little rusty… but against a good team like Swampscott and their zone, our shots just weren’t falling. When you don’t shoot the ball well against a team like that, which holds us to 42 points, it’s going to be a rough night,” Avery said. “I give credit where credit is due. Swampscott made some big shots. When we went on a run, they withstood it and came back and made a couple of big shots from O’Neill and Chiarello.”
In the fourth quarter, the Rams tried to mount a comeback, but timely shots from Swampscott kept it from happening. A big momentum killer was when the Big Blue’s Chase Groothuis grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup to make it 52-41 with 2:26 remaining in the game.
“He’s been improving every game. He’s one of our strongest players. He did everything he needed to do in the offseason to prepare himself for this year,” Knowles said. “We’re super proud of him and just getting used to the varsity feel and that’s why you’re starting to see him gain more confidence on the court.”
When asked what the difference was between the two games against Classical, Knowles highlighted points in the paint.
“They had 44 points in the paint in the first game, so that was our biggest point of emphasis. If they’re going to beat us, it was going to be by shooting threes,” Knowles said. “I thought we did a really good job of rotating on defense and taking them out of rhythm threes. They had some easy ones here and there, but for the most part, I was very pleased with our defense.”
After having its 10-game winning streak snapped, Avery wants his team to respond Saturday night in Melrose at 7 p.m.
“The message now is to regroup and get ready to play a tough Melrose team on the road. I’m looking forward to getting a good seeding in the MIAA tournament,” he said. “I’d rather lose now than later. Sometimes, a loss can help your team. We’ll be ready Saturday night.”
Swampscott travels to Gloucester for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Fishermen on Friday.
