LCHS Basketball

2005-2006  School Year

Classical Boys Basketball Spoils Last Home Game for English's Bennett
By Gordon Vincent / For The Item, Saturday, February 18, 2006

LYNN -- Ron Bennett's last regular season home game as coach of the Lynn English High boys basketball game was memorable for a lot of reasons. What Bennett - a competitor to the end - will probably remember most is a lot of missed free throws.
The Bulldogs shot a paltry 9-for-26 from the line last night at English High and lost, 68-61, to Classical, which swept the season series against its cross-city rival.
"We missed too many free throws and too many easy shots," Bennett said. "That's what killed us."
For his 41 years of coaching, Bennett was honored with two plaques presented to him by English Asst. Principal Donna Hegan and Tom Connors, a class of '78 graduate who is now coaching basketball and football. Bennett and long-time assistant Jim Doyle were also presented with basketballs that were painted gold, and greeted by about two dozen former players who showed up for a pre-game ceremony.
The Bulldogs nearly sent their coach out with a win and were leading the game with seven minutes left, until Classical switched to a triangle-and-two defense that sparked an 8-0 run that gave the lead to the Rams for good.
"Our press was working before that, but when (English) would break it, (English's Mario) Joseph and (Jairo) Valdez seemed to be scoring a lot of their points on easy shots," Classical coach Tom Grassa said. "We walked about (the triangle-and-two) in practice and knew we would probably use it at some point."
In addition to the rivalry, Classical was also motivated to break a three-game losing streak as its Northeastern Conference season came to a close. The Rams (13-6) close out their regular season on Sunday at home against Peabody.
"We needed this win," Grassa said. "Can you imagine if we lost tonight, then lost to Peabody on Sunday and had a 5-game losing streak going into the tournament?"
The Rams were led by Jeff Watson, who scored 29 points. The only other player in double figures for Classical was Kevin Arsenault, with 14 points. With the Rams missing two starters - Vince Spence (knee injury) and Terrance Thornton (disciplinary suspension) - the Bulldogs focused much of their defensive efforts on Roberto Vellon, the NEC's leading scorer who was held to six points.
"If you had figured that one of our leading scorers wouldn't play and another one would only score six points, you'd probably say we had a bad night," Grassa said. "But a few kids came off the bench to really give us a spark."
One of those players was Peter Kopoulos, who with Arsenault in foul trouble in the first half played 10 solid minutes. For the game, he scored four points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots.
The Bulldogs (10-8) were led by Joseph with 21 points, while Bryan Bingham added 11 and Winston Bennett chipped in with 10. English was also without a key player, DeShon McCloud, who watched the the game in street clothes due to the flu.
English, which wrapped up its regular season, has also qualified for the state tournament, but will likely open up on the road.
"We could have had a home game, if we had won tonight," Bennett said.
After trailing by as many as nine points in the first half, the Bulldogs went on a 14-4 run to open the second half to take a 41-38 lead with 12:20 left in the game.
The teams traded the lead four times after that until English went on a 6-0 run, capped off by a layup by Winston Bennett off a nice pass from Valdez to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 49-44 with 8:52 remaining.
The Rams employed their triangle-and-two defense at the points, and held the Bulldogs to two points in the ensuing 4:05, while Joseph scored six straight points for Classical to tie the game at 51-51. Quivari Jackson gave the Rams the lead for good with a floater from the lane with 5:21 left.
English kept it close until the Rams clamped down on defense, held English without a field goal for nearly three minutes and scored eight straight points on offense.
Two free throws by Watson with 52.6 seconds left gave to give Classical a 65-57 lead. Bennett nailed a three-pointer on the next possession to make it a two possession game, but Michael Quintana made one of two free throws and Watson hit another pair of freebies to keep English from making the game closer.
English led by as many as three early in the game, but Classical clawed its way back and methodically built a lead that peaked at 33-21 with 1:22 left in the first half. Watson rattled in a three-pointer from the left elbow with two seconds left to give the Rams a 34-27 lead at the break.
English was just 3-for-11 from the free throw line in the first half, and effort that only slightly improved in the second half, during which the Bulldogs shot 6-for-15 from the line.

2005-2006 Varsity Team

The Captains

The Seniors

 

Junior Varsity Team

 

Vellon, Classical boys defeat English
By Gordon Vincent / For The Daily Item of Lynn, Saturday, January 28, 2006

Once again, a balanced offense and a tenacious defense worked for the Lynn Classical High boys basketball team.
Led by Roberto Vellon with 19 points, five players scored in double figures for the Rams in a 77-68 win over cross-city rival English, Friday night, at Classical's gym. Classical (11-4; 8-1 NEC) remained in a first place tie with Salem in the Northeastern Conference standings.
"This is a big win for us because it's no picnic for us down the stretch," Classical coach Tom Grassa said. "We have to play English on the road and Salem on the road, and we have tough non-conference games against St. John's Prep and Peabody.
"The good thing is we have four of our last six games at home," Grassa continued.
English (9-5) came into the game on a 6-game win streak and clinched a state tournament berth on Tuesday, but fell behind by 10 points early in the game. Led by the sensational play of Jairo Valdez (a game-high 29 points), English rallied and led by as many as four points in the second half before the momentum of the game turned back to the Rams, who went on a 16-3 run to take the lead for good.
"We caught up to them, but it took its toll," English coach Ron Bennett said. "The kids worked really hard, but I think their press wore us down a little bit."
Also scoring in double figures for Classical were Kevin Arsenault and Jeff Watson (14 points apiece); Jorel Berberena (13); and Vince Spence (11). Arsenault also grabbed 10 rebounds (five offensive, including three missed free throws late in the game to thwart any late comeback ideas English had), while Watson dished out nine assists and provided a steady hand at the point.
"In the first half, (Watson) started to get out of his game, which is distributing the ball," Grassa said. "But he settled down and in the second half he really helped us control the game."
Classical also had a much better game at the free throw line, making 14 of 21 attempts. English was 11-25 from the line, including a 3-for-10 showing in the second half.
"We made it hard on ourselves by missing so many free throws," Bennett said.
Mario Joseph and Winston Bennett added 10 points each for the Bulldogs.
Behind a couple of slashing hoops by Vellon, the Rams bolted to an 8-2 lead just 3:11 into the game and were ahead by 10 (17-7) when Berberena sank a three-pointer from the left elbow with 10:34 left in the first half.
Joseph nailed a couple of three-pointers to keep English in the game, and Valdez scored six points in an 8-0 run that got the Bulldogs to within three (23-20) with 6:17 remaining in the opening period.
A three-pointer from the right wing by Valdez, a driving hoop by Ceasar Reyes and one of two free throws by Bennett put English ahead for the first time at 32-31 with 1:21 left in the first half. Arsenault made two three throws and then Joseph made one of two from the line to tie the game at 33-33 at halftime.
A 15-footer and a fast break layup by Valdez gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game, 41-37, with 13:48 left. Two hoops each by Vellon and Arsenault (on a couple of nice feeds from Watson) sparked the Rams on a 10-0 run that put them back in the lead.
Bennett answered with a three-pointer from the left wing, but Spence, Vellon and Quivari Jackson each found the basket in a span of 38 seconds to quickly put Classical on top, 53-44, with 9:42 to play.
With Reyes scoring five straight points, English got as close as three (53-50), but the Rams tightened their defensive pressure the rest of the way, converting missed shots and turnovers into easy layups. Spence keyed an 11-2 run that gave Classical a 66-54 lead with 3:41 left.
"We actually used three different presses in the second half," Grassa said. "Sometimes the press can backfire and lead to a lot of fast break baskets for the other team, but we managed to keep our poise and control."
English got as close as five points when Fred Cole hit a 10-footer from the left elbow with 1:52 left, but with the Bulldogs in a must-foul mode, Classical made six-of-seven free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
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Classical Boys Hoop Defeats Peabody
By Jonathan Weiner / For The Daily Item of Lynn, Monday, January 16, 2006

They'll be meeting as conference foes beginning in December of 2007, but yesterday's Classical-Peabody boys hoop affair served as an interesting tease between the two area schools.
The Rams (8-5) outlasted the Tanners (3-6), 83-76, at Peabody High. Classical, which held a 40-31 edge at the half, widened its lead to 18 (75-57) with 4:15 remaining. Peabody was victimized by poor passing, numerous steals by the Rams (including a nifty one by guard Quivari Jackson, who picked off Brad Linehan at midcourt before driving the length of the court for the layup), and several missed shots without any offensive boards. Those created several fast break opportunities for the Rams.
Yet the Tanners battled back. They went on a 17-4 run, which included a pair of three-pointers (one from forward Mike Soper with 1:06 left, and the other by Jeff McMath with 45.6 seconds to go), to get to within 79-74. Yet guard Roberto Vellon (17) and Jeff Watson (11) each converted a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.
"We had worked on their press for 45 minutes (on Saturday), so we knew what was coming," said Peabody coach Chris Mastrangelo. "I told the team that we played at the end, and not to the end. We didn't play 32 minutes, and we missed 24 shots in the paint. We made lazy passes (in the first half) against an athletic team."
The Rams, who never trailed, broke open a 44-37 game with a tremendous surge throughout the second half. After Tanners guard Andrew Fodera connected on a short jumper, the Rams used their speed to slowly edge away. Forward Vince Spence (the game's high scorer with 26, 18 in the second half) stole the ball away from McMath in the Classical end, going all the way for the basket.
Moments later, Vellon did the same thing, stealing a pass in the Rams' end, and driving the length of the court for another basket.
The Tanners cut the lead to 65-56 with 6:32 left, before Classical went on an 8-0 run in just over a minute. Baskets by Vellon sandwiched a hoop by teammate Terrance Thornton. Jackson's pickpocketing of Linehan increased the lead to 73-56.
"This was an unusual game for us," Rams coach Tom Grassa said. "We're not usually in this much foul trouble, but we lost (center) Kevin Arsenault (who fouled out late in the game with 12 first-half points), and Roberto (Vellon) sat out a good part of the first half with two quick fouls. It was a good team effort, as Peter Kopoulos filled in for Kevin, and this was Jeff's (Watson) first game back since spraining his ankle against Beverly."
Peabody trailed, 24-18, midway through the first half, before Classical pulled away. Guard Michael Quintana connected on a three-pointer late in the half, and Watson added one of his own with 2:09 remaining to increase the margin to 38-25.
Guard Eddie Leonard (18) brought Peabody back to within 38-29 with a three with under a minute left. He added a conventional basket to end the half to keep the score at nine.
 Teammate Mike Everson led the Tanners with 22 points, and teammate Kyle Multner contributed 10.

 

Classical Boys Hoop Defeats Swampscott
By Jonathan Weiner / For The Item, Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The prodigal son returned home last night to where he made his name. Paul Moran, the all-time leading scorer in Swampscott boys basketball history (2,043), coached his first game as Big Blue mentor at his old home court against Classical.
Unfortunately for Moran, the Rams took advantage of several second chances off the board early in the second half to outlast the Big Blue, 71-66, at Swampscott High School on Tuesday.
Classical (1-1) held a 38-36 halftime edge, but both teams traded baskets early in the second half for a 42-42 deadlock. Rams guard Roberto Vellon (Classical's leading scorer with 20) scored on the fast break, and was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw, but teammate Kevin Arsenault put back the rebound to extend the lead to 46-42. Moments later, Vellon came up short on a three-pointer, but teammate Jeff Watson grabbed the miss, and got the basket with the foul. Watson (eight points) also missed his free throw, but Arsenault was there for the rebound and basket. Arsenault would later add a short jumper to close out the 10-0 Rams run.
"That rebounding killed us," said Moran, who previously served as head coach of both the Swampscott and Danvers girls basketball squads. "But we'll have to do some more drills when it comes to rebounding."
However, the Big Blue (0-1) fought back, taking advantage of a cold spell by Classical. The Rams not only missed several shots, but also committed several turnovers. Forward Chris Blydell hit a short jumper, then teammate Sean Nimkar (21 points) added a free throw, followed by a turnaround jumper. The teams traded baskets before guard Scott Leffler brought the Big Blue to within 56-51 on a layup with 6:53 remaining in regulation.
Yet Classical went on a tear of its own to widen the gap to 65-53. Vellon hit a jumper just inside the paint, then got a rebound of a teammate's miss. He was fouled on the play, and the three-point play gave the Rams a 61-51 margin. Guard Jorel Berberena's basket with over two minutes left gave the Rams their largest lead of the night (65-53).
However, back-to-back three-pointers by Matt Smith and Nimkar brought Swampscott within 67-62 with under a minute to go. Yet Watson hit a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.
"It was not a good performance by us," said Classical coach Tom Grassa. "We had an awful lot of turnovers, and we made some poor decisions on the transition. We need to have a more cohesive chemistry, and we have to work on protecting the ball. Swampscott gave a gutsy performance, and I give them a lot of credit."
The first half went the same way for both clubs. The Rams scored the game's first five points before Swampscott got to within 5-4. Classical went on an 8-0 surge, eventually taking an 18-7 lead, before the Big Blue evened the game at 25 with 5:14 left in the half. Swampscott would fall behind by 33-25 due to turnovers and missed shots, but took its first (and only) lead (37-34) with less than a minute remaining on a Craig Rodenstein rebound of a Tyler Tennant miss. The Rams scored the last two buckets of the half for a 38-36 halftime advantage.
"I thought our kids played well," Moran said."We'll fight on every possession, and I learned some things as well."

 

       Game Schedule           Freshman @ 4:00 PM    JV @ 5:30 PM    Varsity @ 7:00 PM

           DATE                                      OPPONENT                               TIME        BUS TIME

  Friday, December 09, 2005  BENEDETTO JAMBOREE                      TBA

  Sunday, December 11, 2005  AT ST. JOHN'S PREP                            2:00/3:30/5:00    1:00/3:30     PreSeason

  Tuesday, December 13, 2005  AT SWAMPSCOTT                             4:00/5:30/7:00     3:00/6:00     WIN

  Friday, December 16, 2005  WINTHROP                                            4:00/5:30/7:00                     WIN

  Tuesday, December 20, 2005  AT SAUGUS                                        4:00/5:30/7:00     3:00/6:00      WIN

  Friday, December 23, 2005  MARBLEHEAD                                       4:00/5:30/7:00                      LOSS

  Tuesday, December 27, 2005  LYNN TOURNAMENT                       TBA                                  WIN

  Wednesday, December 28,   LYNN TOURNAMENT                          TBA                                  LOSS

  Thursday, December 29,   AT CHARLESTOWN                                 5:30/7:00             4:30             LOSS

  Friday, January 06, 2006  AT DANVERS                                            4:00/5:30/7:00      3:00/6:00       ???

  Tuesday, January 10, 2006  BEVERLY                                                4:00/5:30/7:00                        WIN

  Friday, January 13, 2006  AT REVERE                                                4:00/5:30/7:00     3:00/6:00        WIN

  Sunday, January 15, 2006  AT PEABODY                                           1:30/3:00            12:30             WIN

  Friday, January 20, 2006  SALEM                                                        4:00/5:30/7:00                       WIN

  Tuesday, January 24, 2006  AT GLOUCESTER                                  4:00/5:30/7:00      2:45/5:45        WIN

  Friday, January 27, 2006  LYNN ENGLISH                                        4:00/5:30/7:00                        WIN

  Friday, February 03, 2006  DANVERS                                                4:00/5:30/7:00

  Tuesday, February 07, 2006  SWAMPSCOTT                                    4:00/5:30/7:00

  Friday, February 10, 2006  ST. JOHN'S PREP                                    4:00/5:30/7:00

  Sunday, February 12, 2006  PEABODY                                              2:30/4:00/5:30

  Tuesday, February 14, 2006  AT SALEM                                            4:00/5:30/7:00     3:00/6:00

  Friday, February 17, 2006  AT LYNN ENGLISH                               4:00/5:30/7:00             

 

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Boys Basketball 2004-2005 Archives

Classical Boys Basketball Qualifies for State Tournament
By Jim Bianchine  The Daily Item of Lynn, Saturday, January 29, 2005

LYNN -- Looks can be deceiving, and so can final scores.
Such was the case Friday night in the first meeting of the season in the red-hot rivalry between the English and Classical boys basketball teams. Whoever said throw out the records when rivals meet knew exactly what they were talking about.
In the end, the Rams proved to have more firepower, scoring a hard-fought 62-48 win at Cavanagh Field House.
The Rams, with designs on winning a Northeastern Conference title, improved to 10-2 and stand 9-1 in conference play. The win qualifies the Rams for the state tournament. The Bulldogs fell to 1-9.
However, English trailed just 23-22 at the break. And when scrappy English took the lead twice midway in the second half, the Bulldogs certainly got Classical's attention.
The Rams went on a torrid 13-2 run to resume control and finish things off.
Did the Rams expect such a tussle?
"No, I was surprised," Classical coach Tom Grassa said. "They (Bulldogs) played with a lot of fire and enthusiasm. We couldn't seem to put them away."
Counterpart Ron Bennett agreed. "Our team played with a lot of heart and gave its best effort against a great Classical team," Bennett said. "They (Rams) are outstanding, and we stayed with them."
That was true until the second-half surge. The Rams' 10th win already has them tourney-bound.
Alvin Abreau torched the Rams for 27 points. Alberto Rodriguez added 15 points and Vince Spence had 10.Luis Rodriguez led the Bulldogs with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Jairo Valdez added 11 points.
The Rams ran out to an early 11-2 lead, forcing a half-dozen English turnovers.
The Bulldogs closed off the passing lanes and made things tougher, closing to 16-9.
Abreau nailed a trey from the wing for a 19-9 lead, but the Bulldogs regrouped and were looking to put a major crimp in Classical's title plans.
At the half, one that closed with two Rodriguez free throws with time expired, English had made it a dogfight.
Classical got it going early in the second half behind the inside muscle of Rodriguez. When Abreau nailed another 3-pointer, the Rams led, 34-24. But the Bulldogs rallied again and closed to 34-33 following a trey by Ryan Ross.
Then Valdez grabbed a long rebound and went straight to the hole, scoring to give English a 37-36 lead, its first of the game. The Bulldogs led again when Rodriguez scored out of a scramble underneath, making it 39-38 with 8:43 to play.
The Rams proceeded to stay cool and collected. Abreau began things with a 3-pointer. Great defense and fluid transition gave the Rams a 51-41 lead with six minutes to go. Classical never surrendered momentum thereafter.
The Rams won the battle off the glass, barely, 34-29, led by Abreau's nine caroms and eight from Spence.
After the friendly but fierce neighborhood battle, the Rams' Rodriguez summed it up best.
 "They (Bulldogs) come to play against the teams that are good," Rodriguez said.

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Salem wins boys basketball showdown over Classical
By Jim Bianchine, The Daily Item of Lynn, Wednesday, January 12, 2005

SALEM - In a Northeastern Conference boys basketball clash of conference unbeatens Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Field House, Classical and Salem came as advertised.
 The Rams did everything in their power to spoil the party before a raucous capacity crowd. But the Witches staged the basketball equivalent of a goal line stand to pull out a scintillating 52-51 win to stand alone atop the conference standings.
On a night where Salem guard Dan Fraser surpassed the 1,000-career point mark, it was a defensive stop in the closing seconds that played a large part in securing Salem's victory.
The win boosts Salem to 7-1 and 5-0 in conference play while Classical falls 6-2 and 5-1.
With the game knotted at 51 following Pat Shea's follow-up tip-in, the Rams were looking to take the game's last shot. But Salem didn't allow them to do that.
"We switched it up on defense and I think we shocked them a little with a full court man-to-man," said Salem coach Tom Doyle. "We hadn't all game and on a normal day that wouldn't bother them. But they were surprised."
With the passing lanes nearly closed, the Rams wheeled the ball around as precious seconds ticked away. Nearly out of time, Shea stepped in, swiped a pass, and was immediately fouled on a reach-in call (which the Rams protested to no avail) with 2.3 seconds left putting Shea on the free throw line.
He missed the first one, but nailed the second for the lead and Erik Groszyk added the exclamation point before the wild celebration blocking Jose Quintana's NBA range three-point launch at the buzzer.
"We do have some good defenders and stepped it up at big times," said Doyle.
"We wanted to take the last shot," Classical coach Tom Grassa said. "We just wanted to get a good shot and turned it over. We played excellent defense."
 Fraser led all scorers with 19 points. Groszyk added 19. Roberto Vellon led Classical with 17, Alvin Abreau added 14 and Vince Spence 11.
With first place on the line in a game in which both teams lone loss was to a No. 1 ranked EMass team (Classical to Lynn Tech; Salem to East Boston), the night was supposed to belong to Fraser early on, but Vellon stole the show.
The sophomore sharpshooter nailed four treys and scored all 17 of his points in the first half. The game was hotly contested from the get go but each suffered through cold shooting.
But the Rams heated up midway behind Vellon and Abreau to open a 30-20 lead. However, the Witches received a huge lift when Fraser achieved his 1,0000-point milestone in classic Hollywood fashion, launching up a prayer from two steps inside the halfcourt circle and connecting at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 30-25. He needed eight going into the game and the shot gave him 1,001. More importantly, it gave the Witches momentum.
"That was a huge momentum swing. For us that shot was big," said Doyle.
The shot was the start of a 14-2 run that carried over into the second half that saw the Witches take a 34-32 lead. They stretched their surge to 21-4 for a 41-34 lead, each team taking an opposite approach during the stretch.
 The Witches were more patient in the second half and the Rams seemed to press the panic button a little early.
"We've been down before. We were down in some key games last year," said Doyle, returning basically the same successful, gritty crew.
 But Classical regrouped behind the hot hand of Spence who during one stretch scored 11 of his team's 13 points, his trey with 6:43 remaining knotted the game at 43.
It was tied three more times in the frantic final minutes. Salem fought back from 51-48 when Abreau nailed a trey with 2:10 to play.
With 1:06 remaining Frasier was called for a travel, but Salem's trap forced the Rams into a inbound violation. But Fraser misfired from three-point range and Vellon grabbed the rebound with 54 seconds left.
The Witches responded with a vicious trap but Fraser missed the runout. But Shea trailed the play and his tip-in tied the game for the final time. Classical edged the Witches off the glass, 37-33 led by Abreau and Alberto Rodriguez each with 10. Shea had 10 caroms for the Witches.
Stay tuned. The rematch is at Classical on Friday, Feb. 11.

Classical Pulls Away from Swampscott

By Joyce Erekson, The Daily Item of Lynn, Saturday, January 8, 2005

LYNN -- Keeping the Classical High basketball team in check this season is something like containing a wildfire. Just when you put the fire out in one spot, it flares up in another.
Swampscott was in the hunt fore nearly three-quarters of the game, but every time one Classical player would cool down, another would heat up. In the end, the Rams won, 68-53, to remain undefeated in Northeastern Conference play at 5-0(6-1 overall).
"This is a terrific basketball team, It'sone of the best Classical teams I've see in years," Swampscott coach Brian Bagley said. "The thing I like about them is they're so unselfish and they're so athletic."
Alberto Rodriguez did the bulk of the damage early on, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the first half. The 6-2 senior dominated in the early going, scoring 11 of Classical's first 17 points. He started to struggle a bit midway through the first half and the Big Blue took advantage, going on a 14-2 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 25-19, with 2 1/2 minutes left.
Swampscott's Kyle Ginley keyed the run with two, three-pointers and eight points overall in a four minute stretch. Classical ended the half with a 6-2 run, but still trailed by a bucket at the half, 27-25.
"They (Swampscott) certainly hung tough," Classical coach Tom Grassa said.
Grassa called three timeouts in the first half and each time, the message to his team was the same. Get the ball inside.
"I think the big thing is we just told the guys to pick up the intensity of the defense, no more outside shots. We told them we want shots in the paint," Grasso said. "
The message sunk in. Rodriguez had a fairly quiet second half, but senior forward Alvin Abreu and sophomore Roberto Vellon were just heating up. Abreu scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and Vellon went from zero to 12 (points) in final 16 minutes (he sat during the first half for a violation of team rules)
Grassa said one of the keys to the game was the play of Jose Quintana and Jeffery Watson, whose job it was to keep Swampscott guard Tyler Tennant under wraps.
 "They did a terrific job trying to keep Tyler Tennant from running his offense," Grassa said.
Phil Clain led Swampscott with 14 points and Matt Pressman had 12. Kyle Ginley also had a productive night with 10 points. Classical'sVince Spence had a big second half with 11 points for 13 points overall. Swampscott is 4-2.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tech Boys Hoop Defeats Classical, Wins Boverini Christmas Tournament
by Jim Bianchine, The Daily Item of Lynn, Thursday, December 30, 2004

Lynn is a hotbed of hoop, and it was only fitting that two of the city's finest turned up the heat in the final of the Boverini Christmas Tournament.
On Wednesday night at Cavanagh Field House, Tech coach Marvin Avery and his team added to their list of accomplishments yet another title, winning the inaugural event in a hotly contested affair over Classical, 61-54.
 In the end, icy long-range shooting and no answer for tourney MVP Corey Bingham spelled the difference in a game that wasn't decided until the final seconds.
Bingham, foul-plagued and held to just two points in the first half, torched the Rams for 14 more in the second half to withstand rally after rally by the Rams in the battle of unbeatens.
"This means a lot, because it had all the Lynn teams," said Avery as his 7-0 Tigers added a gold trophy to their already impressive collection.
Bingham came through in the end after his teammates came through rather well for long stretches without him.
"He (Bingham) came to the bench with two fouls in the first half and didn't sulk. He knew what he had to go out and do in the second half. He's one of the best players in the state and rises when he has to," said Avery.
The coach recognized all the surrounding players for their effort.  "We have so many guys who know their role. That's why we have such a good ballclub," said Avery.
"We played a good defensive game, but we missed too many shots," said Classical coach Tom Grassa, his team now 4-1.
Upon gazing at his shot chart, he just shook his head when he saw his team's 1-for-14 shooting from 3-point range.
 "You can't have that," said Grassa.
 Nor could his team afford 10 first-half turnovers, something that was drastically cut to just three in the second half.
The game began at a frantic pace. Tech opened an 18-10 lead in a game in which every shot was hotly contested. Tech had a slight edge in its ability to break the press and an ever-so-slight edge off the glass in the first half (18-16) and survived a long stretch without Bingham.
The Tigers led 30-24 at the half but were never able to stretch it past 38-30 early in the second half after Bingham banged home a trey.
Behind the rebounding of Alberto Rodriguez and Vince Spence, who had 10 each, the Rams roared back, and when Spence hit a runner the Rams closed to 41-38. Spence scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and the Tigers could do little to contain him.
The game was still very much up for grabs when Alvin Abreau scored on a fast break on a clear-out from Rodriguez to close to 49-46.
Jamaal Boyd drove the line for a 51-46 lead, but Spence answered back.
Bingham stepped up big, nailing a 3-pointer for a 54-48 lead with 3:02 remaining. That was a big three and we really fed off it," said Avery.
The Rams refused to go away and Rodriguez muscled inside. But Bingham's two free throws followed for a 56-50 lead with 1:16 to play.  Tech took a 57-50 lead on another Bingham free throw with 33 seconds left.
Spence scored off a drive with 26 ticks left to narrow the Rams' deficit to 57-52, and two seconds later the Tigers turned the ball over.
 Jeff Watson's corner jumper hit the front iron with 20 seconds remaining and Sted Boudreau snared the carom. Two seconds later, Bingham was fouled and drained a pair from the line, but Rodriguez scored again inside with six seconds left.
But Boudreau salted away the hard-fought win with two free throws with 3.6 seconds left.
Classical won the battle of the boards, 38-33, something the Tigers rarely lose. Bingham had a game-high 11.Classical is very athletic, and it was a good win. We wore them down in the end. This win shows me what my team is all about," said Avery.
Rodriguez finished with 17 points, as did Tech's Boudreau, and Boyd added 1.The all-tournament team consisted of Bingham (MVP), Spence, Rodriguez, Boudreau and Rich Russo of St. Mary's.

  Classical's  Abreu the Gem of the Jamboree

   by Bob Albright, Lynn Journal, 12/15/04

The calendar may have said December, but the screams for every loose ball and the deafening roar that reverberated through the packed stands in the Lynn Classical gym throughout suggested otherwise. That was the backdrop for what was supposed to be an innocuous preseason showcase between East Boston and the host Rams, one of seven such contests in the annual Dr. Elmo Benedetto Jamboree which officially kicked off the hoop season on the North Shore for a 19th straight year last Friday. What fans got instead was clearly the most entertaining game of the night as the two Div. 2 North semifinalists from a year ago pulled few punches in an end- to-end l6-minute highlight reel of a game which ended with East Boston escaping with a narrow 32-31 win and with fans wishing they could play another 16.  Right in the epicenter of the action was Classical guard Alvin Abreu.  

Welcome back. Sidelined since suffering a leg injury in week six last year against Salem, the senior was quick to make up for lost time last Friday coolly dropping in 13; while dishing out two big time assists down the stretch as he displayed the kind of vision not often found on the high school hardwood. On a night that featured plenty of college-bound talent, No.25 for the Rams simply stood apart.  Judging from the grin which was permanently affixed to Classical coach Tom Grassa's face afterward, he felt the same. "We know he can score. He was our leading scorer the first five games last year before going down against Salem," reminded Grassa, "but he can do everything else, too. He worked tremendously hard in the off season to get back and it really shows. He's gotten a lot bigger." 

Just 16-years old (he'll turn 17 in March),  Grassa thinks Abreu's options are plentiful to excel at  the next level. "Where he's so young, you could look at him going to a prep school next year and with another year to develop his game and build up his body, I could see him going to a Div. I program like a Northeastern or a Boston university, one of those type teams," said Grassa. "But it's up to him. He's a very good student, and if he wants to go straight to college he certainly could play right away at a strong Division 3 program." .   Either way, Grassa. is just happy to be able to pencil Abreau's' name back in a lineup that's not short on fire power with the likes of Alberto Rodriguez, Cetan Tyler, Jose Quintana Jeff Watson.

Abreau and the Rams opened last night at home against Danvers and will host Revere Friday night. 

p.s. Classical beat Danvers Tuesday night.

  Freshman @ 4:00 PM    JV @ 5:30 PM    Varsity @ 7:00 PM

           DATE                             OPPONENT                                            TIME                   BUS TIME

  Friday, December 10, 2004  BENEDETTO JAMBOREE                    TBA                               VARSITY

  Tuesday, December 14, 2004  DANVERS                                     4:00/5:30/7:00                             WIN

  Friday, December 17, 2004  WINTHROP                                        4:00/5:30/7:00                           WIN

  Tuesday, December 21, 2004  AT SAUGUS                                   4:00/5:30/7:00      3:00/6:00       WIN

  Monday, December 27, 2004  LYNN TOURNAMENT                            TBA                                WIN

  Wednesday, December 29, 2004  LYNN TOURNAMENT                     TBA                     2ND PLACE

  Tuesday, January 04, 2005  AT BEVERLY                                       4:30/6:00/7:30        3:30/6:30  WIN

  Friday, January 07, 2005  SWAMPSCOTT                                      4:00/5:30/7:00                           WIN

  Tuesday, January 11, 2005  AT SALEM                                           4:00/5:30/7:00        3:00/6:00  LOSS

  Friday, January 14, 2005  MARBLEHEAD                                       4:00/5:30/7:00                         WIN

  Tuesday, January 18, 2005  BEVERLY                                             4:00/5:30/7:00                          WIN

  Friday, January 21, 2005  AT GLOUCESTER                                  4:00/5:30/7:00       2:45/5:45   WIN

  Friday, January 28, 2005  AT LYNN ENGLISH  4:00/5:30/7:00                                                       WIN

  Tuesday, February 01, 2005  AT DANVERS  4:00/5:30/7:00  3:00/6:00                                           WIN

  Friday, February 04, 2005  AT SWAMPSCOTT  4:00/5:30/7:00  3:00/6:00    

  Friday, February 11, 2005  SALEM  4:00/5:30/7:00

  Tuesday, February 15, 2005  ST. JOHN'S PREP  4:00/5:30/7:00                                                       WIN

  Friday, February 18, 2005  LYNN ENGLISH  4:30/6:00/7:30

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