Lynn English Bulldogs | McClelland Miscellanea

Lynn English celebrates after a big rally defeats Salem.

Antonio Reyes (34 points) makes a late free throw.

(Salem) Lynn English (17-1) trailed by ten points with three minutes left but rallied on both ends of the court and defeated Salem, 78-70, on Tuesday night before a sizable group of passionate fans.

Salem (15-3) looked to be rolling to victory with a, 69-59, lead but seemed to collectively run out of gas and the Bulldogs capitalized in a big way in the final hectic three minutes.

The only positive Salem had in the last three minutes was one free throw (Antonio Reyes). The rest was ugly: seven turnovers, two missed threes, and two missed free throws.

While all that bad stuff was happening to the Witches, Lynn English scored at least two points in nine of their last ten possessions. After the score was tied at 70-70 with 1:04 left, the Bulldogs ran off eight unanswered points including six free throws without a miss in front of a loud Salem student section.

Travonne Berry-Rogers (26 points) shadowed Antonio move of the game. Here the two share a laugh.

Salem had won an earlier meeting (66-63) in late December.

This was the last regular season home game for Salem and their seniors were honored before the game. This team will surely get a home game in the MIAA Division 2 tournament starting in a couple of weeks.

Antonio Reyes (34 points) put on one of those shows that people will be talking about years from now. Against a team with shot blockers (Keandre Stanton and Corey McMillen) Antonio took the ball to the basket. Against steady denial defense from Trevonne Berry-Rogers, Antonio found openings for 3’s. He also took in fifteen rebounds and handed out eight assists.

However, in crunch time LE doubled Antonio to get the ball out of his hands and that led to a slew of turnovers that proved decisive.

Antonio would foul out with thirty-nine seconds left. Keandre Stanton converted both free throws to put the Bulldog ahead 74-70 and Salem had no offense left the rest of the way.

Keandre Stanton (#15) rejects a Antonio layup attempt.

While Antonio had the fans oohing and aahing, Trevonne Berry-Rogers quietly picked up twenty-six points for LE. He was good from all the scoring stations and also had a big steal and layin during the last thirty seconds of the game.

The Bulldogs have several serious shot blockers and when they weren’t actually blocking shots they were discouraging Salem’s undersized players from getting to the basket.

Salem started fast winning all the scrambling battles. 5 ½ minutes in they were up, 17-8. During the last part of the second quarter all that hustling around, plus having played a game on Sunday, seemed to catch up to the Witches. A 30-21 advantage was trimmed to just 33-31 by the fresher Bulldogs.

Salem started the second half rested and scored the first nine points (Antonio – five points, Christian Dunston and Raphy Medrano two points each).

Later in the 3rd quarter, the Bulldogs chopped eight points (six from Travonne and two from Corey) off a 48-38 lead and only trailed 54-51 at the end of that quarter.

Christian Dunston (#1) shoots from in front of the Salem student section.

On this night Salem rallied around Antonio and pushed the lead back to ten (64-54 and 69-59) in the final period. One particular play during this good offense may have factored into Salem’s late-game demise, however. Antonio went in for a layup on the left and Keandre came over and blocked the shot sending Antonio hard to the floor. Antonio came out of that action was a sore hip with about five minutes left.

LE put together a 19-1 run during the final three minutes and avenged their only loss of the season in the process. LE has now won fourteen straight and clinched the conference title for the fifth straight season.

LE had twenty turnover through three quarters. Salem played five guards and their quickness caused numerous Bulldog miscues.

Josh Costello collected sixteen points including four 3’s for LE.

Antonio had a huge night but made the Salem attack more predictable than usual in the second half. When all five players are included in the offense, the double teams Antonio faced would have led to teammates getting open shots.

Raphy Medrano tallied thirteen points but was held scoreless in the final quarter.

Corey McMillen (23 points) and Keandre Stanton (13 points) led the Bulldog big men.

In a highly-charged atmosphere tempers can flare and things can get ugly off the court after the game. Saw none of that at Salem High. The reason? The players were respectful of each other. That set the tone for the fans. When Antonio Reyes joked with Travonne Berry-Rogers during an interlude it lessened the animosity possibilities. When they embraced afterwards you knew that the rivalry had reverted to respect and admiration. Good stuff, I thought.

(I gather my own stats and take my own pictures. I draw my own conclusions. Mistakes are unintentional.)

Ryan Woumn – 29 points via layups and free throws

(Beverly) No question, Lynn English (14-0) is good.

They defeated Beverly (8-6) 86-56 at Beverly on Tuesday night at Beverly to complete a sweep of the Panthers.

I have now seen the Big Three of Division One – St. John’s, Central Catholic, and now Lynn English. St. John’s took their first loss tonight (Catholic Memorial) while both Central Catholic and LE continued undefeated. CC beat Andover.

The Bulldogs weren’t really tested by Beverly so I can’t do a comparison with the other two teams.

That’s not to take anything away from the Beverly effort – there was plenty of it. Before the game, however, I already suspected that they were in trouble when I saw Co-captain Mike Clayton out of uniform. Not many underdogs can do much minus their primary ball handler and his 14 points per game against what Lynn English throws at you.

With LE they got pressure, turnovers, and points in bunches against them. LE pressure led to turnovers (16 for Beverly in the first half).

The Panthers didn’t fold immediately, in fact, trailed just 12-10 with 3 ½ to go in the first period. The beginning of the downhill slide kicked in over the next 5 ½ minutes, however, as good LE fullcourt, trapping defense turned into easy offense with a 14-2 run for the Bulldogs. The LE points came on nothing but layups and free throws. Ryan Woumn (29 points) had four of those layups.

Curtis Manuel (24 points) responded with five in a row, partly on free throws, thanks partially to Travone Berry-Rogers’ unappreciated evaluation of a referee.

Irving Vizciano – 17 points for Lynn English

The rest of the second quarter, I saw other parts to LE’s offense that make them more of a headache to defend. Irving Vizciano (17 points) and Paradise Hogan (6 points) hit three’s.

Just when I thought LE was all about layups and long-range basketball, they started the third quarter with interior passes to sophomore Keandre Stanton (6’6”). He had a collection of moves that got him to the basket and he knew how to finish.

I was disappointed not being able to see 6’5” LE senior Jarell Byrd (6’5”) play. He warmed up but never saw any action. I learned afterwards that he had hurt his ankle versus Marblehead. During warm-ups, he looked ready to play but there never was a need against Beverly.

Jarell didn’t play so I couldn’t get a read on him. Ryan Woumn (6’3” – senior) did play and was also hard to read. He had 29 points but most of them were on breakaway layups and free throws. He did take the ball into traffic to draw fouls.

No question LE has plenty of weapons. With five games left, I like their chances of going undefeated although Brockton (Feb 7th) might have something to say about that.

Looking ahead, wouldn’t it be great to see LE in the MIAA D1 North tournament get into a dream matchup with Central Catholic with both teams entering the game undefeated. Last year the Bulldogs upset CC in the tournament.

( All stats are unofficial. )