Tag Archives: Saugus High School

(Newburyport MA)  He was just your average Joe for a half.

But then came the third quarter and senior Joe Bertrand of Saugus lit up the Clippers for seventeen points.

Joe’s terrific period gave Saugus separation from Newburyport and the Sachems came away with a, 62-48, win on Friday night in Cape Ann League action.

Newburyport (2-1) hung with Saugus (2-2) for 2+ minutes into the second half.  A layup by Dan Baribeault (15 points) on a nice pass from Dillon Guthro (13 points) had the Clippers down just one (31-30).

But the rest of that third quarter……..total disaster for the home team.  The Clippers didn’t score a single point in the last 5 1/2 minutes of that quarter.

Meanwhile, Saugus rang up nineteen unanswered points to blow this one wide open (50-30) at the quarter’s end.

6-5 Joe Bertrand (32 points) did most of the damage.  He hurt the Clippers from long range (seven 3’s) getting five of them in the 3rd quarter.

It seemed fitting on this night that Joe would end that quarter with a fade-away long one from in front of the excited Sachems’ bench as the buzzer sounded.

It was a credit to Newburyport that after the horrible 3rd quarter they reeled off ten straight to start the next quarter.  Three inside moves by Dillon Guthro sparked the comeback.

But the Sachems had another run in them and tallied all the points (eight) in the next two minutes and moved back into a comfortable margin (58-40) with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game.  Lamarr Jones, Jack Furey, and Joe Bertrand put up the points in this game-sealing segment.

6-1 Drew Bourdeau had the unenviable task of shadowing Joe Bertrand.  Drew’s frustration got the best of him in the final period.

Saugus used a zone defense.  It worked because Newburyport had little success shooting from long range.  However, the Clippers did pass themselves into high percentage shots in close.

Justin Winn ended the first quarter with a three (off the backboard) and Kyle Artilo ended the first half the same way.

The Sachems had seventeen turnovers but only one of them in the third quarter.

This is Saugus’ first year in the Cape Ann League after forty-five years in the Northeast Conference.  The reason for the switch is that now Saugus will be able to play more schools their own size.

Two nights ago versus Triton, Joe Bertrand had twenty-five points and ten rebounds.

The Sachems next game is on Monday versus Masco on the road.

The Clippers don’t play again until a week from Monday (December 30th) when they host Triton.

Saugus was 12-10 last year.

I saw Saugus lose to Danvers two years ago at the Tsongas Arena in Division 3 tournament play.

Newburyport box

Saugus box

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