Daily Archives: January 17, 2014

(Byfield MA)  Petey Morton (17 points) tallied four points in the last three seconds to lead Manchester-Essex past Triton, 57-53, on Friday night in Cape Ann League play.

The Hornets (8-2) had, what looked like, a comfortable ten-point lead (53-43) with three minutes left in the game.  But uncomfortable it became as the Vikings started with 3’s (Corey Parsons and Kevin Clark), added two free throws (Kevin Clark) and then had Corey Parsons convert an ME turnover into a layup.  When all that excitement ended the game was tied, 53-53, with ten seconds left.

No timeout by the Hornets.  Instead senior Petey Morton took the inbounds pass and raced down the floor and connected on an open floater in the lane with three seconds left to put ME up by two.

Triton had time to recover but after a timeout a pass from Khalil Brito, intended for Nick Venor, went out of bounds.  ME inbounded the ball to Petey Morton.  He was fouled and ended the game with two successful free throws.

This was a tough, fourth-straight loss for Triton (3-6) in a game in which they had a 10-point lead in the first half and also rallied back from a 10-point deficit in the final quarter.

The Vikings Ellsworth Rogers went down with an ankle injury two minutes into the third quarter after a layup and never returned.  Some on the Triton side thought that Ellsworth had been tripped but there was no foul called on the play.

Triton built up a 10-point lead (25-15) three minutes into the second quarter.  Craig Carter, Sean Gutierrez, and Petey Morton, however, helped ME get back to within four (30-26) by halftime.

Will Burgess (11 points) had a nine-point third quarter to push ME in front, 43-40, by the time that quarter ended.

Khalil Brito of Triton started the scoring in the final quarter with a three to tie the score.  After that was a ten-point run by Manchester-Essex (five points from Jeff Durkin, three free throws Sean Gutierrez, jump shot Petey Morton).

But that 10-point spread vanished as the Triton crowd exploded after defensive stops and made shots.  And when Sean Gutierrez lost the ball to Corey Parsons for a tying layup, there was no question which side had the momentum.

But somehow Petey Morton was able to dribble into open space over halfcourt and get an open look at the foul line to hit the game winner.

Petey was obviously not unknown to Triton.  The senior is ME’s primary ball-handler.  He was pressed hard by Kevin Clark and Khalil Brito most of the time.  That’s why the open space Petey found at the end was so surprising.

ME switched from a man-to-man into a 1-3-1 trapping zone to start the second half.  Triton turned the ball over four straight times trying to operate against it.

Triton played a tight man-to-man throughout the game.  That defense created eleven ME miscues in the first half.

Neither Petey Morton or Sean Gutierrez (15 points) were in the game for the first four minutes of the first quarter.

Kevin Clark had a buzzer-beater at the end of the first quarter.  Petey Morton had one of those to end the third quarter.

The Hornets have won five of their last six.  Their next game is home on Monday versus Pentucket.

The Vikings will look to end their losing streak at Georgetown on Monday.

Triton was 9-11 last year while Manchester-Essex was 13-8.

Two of the CAL’s most vocal/intense coaches involved in this one.  No signs of laryngitis from either Triton’s David Clay or ME’s Bryan Shields, however.

My scorebox from the game.

(All of the pictures above and below will enlarge if you click on them.)