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February 2, 2022 · 12:28 am

Newburyport rallies past Amesbury 74-62

Max Gagnon (22 points) scores in front of the Newburyport student section

(Newburyport MA) Newburyport has become a team that is hard to defend.

Who knows who will have the hot hand on any given night?

Tonight, it was Max Gagnon. The speedy Newburyport senior had twenty-two points including eighteen in the first half.

Max held the Clippers (10-4) together tonight in the first half against the red-hot Amesbury Indians.

When Amesbury cooled off in the second half, the Clippers were able to catch up and pull away to a, 74-62, win on Tuesday night.

Both teams had plenty of active support in the stands and there was a tournament feel to the game from beginning to end.

“I loved the energy in the game,” said freshman Finn Brennan afterwards. Finn had sixteen points and fifteen rebounds for the Clippers.

Both teams played at a fast pace.

Amesbury (8-5) turned NHS misses into long-pass layups in the first quarter. The Indians had their biggest lead of the game (20-7) in the last minute after a Matt Welch (16 points) layup assisted by Cam Keliher.

The Clippers refused to go away, however, thanks to Max Gagnon. Max made three’s, got to the basket, and made free throws.

“They were falling, so I kept on shooting,” recalled Max.

Newburyport trailed by just two points (37-35) at the half as James Scali (11 points) hit a three very late in the second quarter.

You wondered how long the Indians would be able to hang onto the lead in the second half.

It was actually five minutes of playing time. Consecutive baskets by Nick Marden gave Amesbury its last lead, 46-45.

A three (Ronan Brown), a rebound basket (Finn Brennan), and another three (Will Thoreson) followed and suddenly the home team had a six-point lead, 53-47. The Clippers would hold the lead the rest of the way.

“We started the game strong,” said Cam Keliher (25 points) post-game, “but in the third quarter it got away from us when they started making three’s.”

“We got out of sorts in the 4^th quarter and started forcing shots,” recalled AHS coach Tom Comeau, “and then the shots didn’t go in.”

Once Newburyport had the lead, they changed their style of play. “We executed our plays more in the second half and got some easy baskets,” said Max.

Amesbury took chances defensively trying to get the ball back and Newburyport reacted by passing and cutting to create high-percentage shots that helped them pull away in the final quarter.

“We don’t have time to hang our heads over this one,” said Coach Comeau. “We have several games before we play in the Boston Garden on Saturday night.”

James Scali: “It was the best offensive performance I’ve ever seen him (Max Gagnon) have. He did a lot of work in the off-season.”

I asked Max Gagnon afterwards if maybe his pre-game lunch had something to do with his career-game. “I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch,” he said with a smile.

Newburyport 12 23 20 19 = 74

Amesbury 20 17 14 11 = 62

(The pictures will enlarge.)

Cam Keliher saw plenty of different Newburyport defenders

Owen Tahnk hears it from the Amesbury fans

Newburyport rallies to 72-64 win over North Reading

Finn Sullivan (10) led the Clippers in their strong finish

(Newburyport MA) The Clippers dominated the final three minutes and that was enough to earn them a, 72-64, win over North Reading on Friday night.

“They crushed us on the glass over the last 4-5 minutes,” said NR coach Joe Casey afterwards. “That’s what won them the game.”

Newburyport coach Dave Clay saw things a bit differently: “We won this game with defensive stops. Those stops led to transition points.”

This game had plenty for both squads to cheer about. The Clippers (6-4) led by six (23-17) after a quarter, but the Hornets (4-4) owned the middle quarters. The visitors were ahead by nine (50-41) with 1 ½ minutes left in the third quarter.

Andrew Boulas (20) paced the Hornets with sixteen points

Newburyport took the game over the rest of the way outscoring the Hornets, 31-14, to gain the victory.

“This group is resilient,” said Coach Clay. “I’m proud of them keeping the fight in them.”

The tempo of this game was fun to watch because both teams had the same approach. The defense was full-court, man-to-man and the attack was full-speed after misses. Rebounds were heavily contested.

Neither team was shy about taking the ball to the basket. The best of the passes were dropdowns by penetrators.

Craig Rubino guards Ronan Brown (12 points)

High scorer Finn Brennan (21 points) was on the receiving end of quite a few in-close passes. “My teammates were getting to the rim and giving me easy dump-downs every time,” said Finn afterwards.

The Hornets were led by Andrew Boulas (16 points) and Cody Cannalonga (14 points). Both players took the ball to the basket and often made the layup or got fouled. Cody drained seven free throws.

The Clippers came out of a timeout after going down, 50-41, and finished the quarter with seven straight points including a Jack Fehlner three.

Two-plus minutes into the last quarter Owen Tahnk cashed two free throws and the Clippers were on top, 55-54.

Finn Sullivan was the spark for the home team the rest of the way. He contributed points, assists, and steals and gave the nearby active student section plenty to get excited about.

“The fans are so committed,” said Finn Sullivan afterwards. “We love having them there.”

“Finn (Sullivan) gives us so much energy and passion on the court and it’s so contagious,” said Coach Clay. “He’s quite an athlete and a fierce competitor.”

Finn connected on a three assisted by Jack Fehlner and then set up teammates Ronan Brown and James Scali for additional three’s.

The Hornets struggled to respond.

“Give them credit,” said NR Coach Casey, “they hit a couple of tough shots down the stretch.”

Ronan Brown (12) and Jack Fehlner (11) reached double figures for Newburyport.

Finn Brennan had nineteen of this twenty-one points through the first three quarters. The Clippers 50-41 deficit late in the third quarter would have been much larger without the inside scoring of the tall freshman.

The Clippers hadn’t played in ten days.