LYNN — Entering Friday night’s game, Lynn Tech boys basketball was 9-8 and ranked No. 9 in Division 4. Against Whittier Tech, the Tigers got the job done to officially clinch a spot in the state tournament with a 73-56 win.
Although it’s another season where the Tigers, led by head coach Corey Bingham, will be playing postseason basketball, this year didn’t start the best for Lynn Tech beginning the year 2-7.
“The Lynn Tech pedigree of playing basketball. Trapping, being all over the place, sharing the ball, and rebounding. What I learned about this group is that they’re resilient,” Bingham said. “They don’t give up. They may make me mad for how they carry themselves at times, but they always give it their all. We’re here to make a nice tournament run.”
The Tigers got out to an early 14-6 lead in the first quarter with the first seven points coming from Gio Jean (18 points).
In the second quarter, however, it was Travis Sanchez who lit up the game for Lynn Tech. The junior guard finished with a game-high 24 points with 16 of his 18 first-half points coming in the second quarter to fuel the Tigers to a 41-23 first-half lead.
“Travis is a gifted scorer. He can score in many ways, he can shoot threes, he can get into the lane, he just gives us another dimension on offense,” Bingham said. “He’s an attacker, besides Gio, we have another guard who can attack which helps Brandon (Antwine) and Andy (Bautista) loosen up. Travis is a special basketball player and I’m just glad we got him and hopefully, he can stay on a roll leading into the Spartan Classic.”
Not only was Sanchez scoring at will, but he was also grabbing offensive rebounds and helping Lynn Tech’s big men rebound on the defensive end. Sanchez finished with eight rebounds on the night.
“Travis is a ball hawk. He wants the ball and even though he’s small, we preach for our guys to help rebound. We can’t just depend on the big guys to rebound,” Bingham said. “Having our guards like Travis rebound helps us out. He’s what you want out there.”
In the second half when the Wildcats started to mount a comeback, Jean buried back-to-back threes to extend the lead to 21, 66-45.
The Tigers won eight of their last nine games and will now ride the momentum against Woburn in the Spartan Classic on Sunday at 5 p.m. at St. Mary’s.
“I want us to see Lynn Tech basketball. I don’t want to play other teams’ brand of basketball,” Bingham said. “When we tend to play our brand of basketball, that’s when we win. We just need to keep it up and most importantly, believe in what we’re doing.”
