Traveling Tiger fans had plenty to cheer about as Ipswich put points together in bunches against Triton
(Byfield) A put-back at the first quarter buzzer by junior Doug Martone started Ipswich on a 17-0 run that gave the Tigers a 28-14 lead before the run ended at 2:40 of the second period on a Jedd Hutchins free throw.
Triton never recovered and the final score was 62-46 on Monday night as both teams opened their Cape Ann League seasons. Both teams are now 1-3 overall.
During the game-deciding seventeen straight, Doug had another put-back basket as well as two other layups. He was set up by Brenden Gallagher on the first and Colin Smith on the second.
Ipswich played some pretty serious man-to-man defense throughout and that led to another stretch of empty Triton possessions that started at the end of the first half and went four minutes into the third quarter.
Specifically, the Vikings missed four shots and turned the ball over on the other four possessions. Meanwhile the Tigers ran off twelve unanswered points.
Aaron Jessen – Tallied ten points including an NBA-range trey
Three of those points came on an NBA-range long one by senior Aaron Jessen. Freshman Colin Smith was the catalyst in the rest of them with a layup, a free throw, and assists on baskets by Brandon Ashe and Doug Shaughnessy.
Now up, 47-24, the bench-clearing started and continued until the end. Tom Bashaw tallied ten points for Triton in the last quarter.
Ipswich has had difficulty handling pressure in previous games but Triton’s poor shooting (17 for 59 overall – 28.8%) limited their opportunities to press.
The Vikings had some good looks at 3’s but even in their own gym made just 5-of-18. Blaise Whitman’s trey ended the Tiger 12-point run in the third quarter.
Those on hand at the start wouldn’t have predicted the final score because after five minutes Triton led, 10-4, and Ipswich had already committed six turnovers including four in a row. However, Ipswich recovered and went on two impressive scoring runs that clinched this one.
Doug Martone topped IHS scorers with eleven (all in the first half), while Darren Lewis paced Triton with fourteen.
The Tigers did end up with 21 turnovers but most of them did not lead to Triton easy baskets. In other games, the turnovers have opened up the floodgates to layups.
Things didn’t go well for the Triton cheerleaders, either.
The Triton faithful didn’t have much to cheer about after the first five minutes. Matters got worse at halftime when the Triton cheerleaders were unable to do their routine because the music needed wasn’t available.
Triton next meets Lynnfield at home on Wednesday. Ipswich will be at Wilmington on the same day.
(All stats presented are unofficial.)
McClelland Miscellanea 
