EHS boys basketball beats Somerville in MIAA Division 1 Tourney
Ghared Boyce scored 28 points to lead Everett to a convincing 78-53 win over Somerville in the MIAA Division 1 North quarterfinals Saturday afternoon, March 4, at Everett High.
Everett trailed by a point, 18-17, as Lucas Saint Jean powered the visiting Highlanders with seven points in the opening frame. Everett, 17-2 and the No. 2 seed in the Division bracket, came to life in the second period and raced to a 40-31 halftime lead. Somerville had battled in the Crimson Tide in a pair of close games during the regular season, but Everett decided there’d be no repeat of anything close this time. With Boyce leading Everett’s offensive charge (8 points in the quarter) and the team exerting a suffocating defense, the third quarter was Somerville’s undoing as Everett ran out to a 63-42 lead.
But the Highlanders held tough and rallied to pull within 12 with 3:24 left. Everett quickly awoke and reeled off 11 unanswered points in the next 90 seconds.
Joining Boyce atop scoring column were Isaiah Likely with eight points, Theo Zidor with 10, and Jordan McAfee, 8. Saint Jean scored 20 for Somerville, while Craig Thomson added 18.
Everett will play Central Catholic in the North Semifinals Wednesday night.
Mystic Valley girls beat Pope John, advance to semis
The Mystic Valley varsity girls’ basketball team defeated Pope John 70-63 on Saturday in the Division 4 North Quarterfinals. The girls now advance to the semi-finals to be played on Tuesday, March 7th at Saint John’s Prep in Danvers against Fenway High School.
Pope John had eliminated Mystic Valley in the state tournament the past two seasons as well as eliminating the Mystic Valley boys team on Monday. The matchup has evolved into one of the area’s best rivalries, which was on full display Saturday evening.
The girls started out fast with 6 different Lady Eagles scoring during the first quarter as Mystic Valley built a 20-16 lead at the end of one. The girls would extend the lead to 6 (38-32) by halftime, led by junior guard Menel Lamadzema’s 22 first half points.
To open the second half Lady Eagles played their best basketball of the season, outscoring Pope John 20-4 to build a 58-36 lead entering the final quarter of play. Pope John attempted to mount a furious comeback attempt in the final 4 minutes, cutting the Mystic Valley lead to just 8 with 90 seconds remaining, but the girls regained their composure and held on to get the victory.
Lamadzema led the way offensively scoring a game high 35 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sophomore Talia Mamayek added 13 points and 13 rebounds and senior Guercy Jean-Pierre came up with the biggest game of her career, scoring a career high 10 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Sophomore Michela Correale added 6 points while also holding Pope John’s leading scorer to just 10. Eighth grade point guard Kate Story had a phenomenal all-around game scoring 6 points, grabbing 9 rebounds, dishing out 5 assists with 7 steals. Sophmore Lily Rhuda added 2 points and 5 rebounds as well. Also playing well were Daniella D’Alleva, Sophia Mercurio and Tara Foley.
Coach Jason Cantwell added after the game “It was nice to get the (Pope John) monkey off the back. Having lost to them the past few years really motivated some of our older girls and I think you could see that in the way they played. In scouting Pope John 5 different times this season both Coach John Furlong and Coach Kim Barris were able to devise a plan to hold their two best players (who normally average over 45 a game combined) to just 14. Menel was phenomenal today, at times establishing position in the post which really helped open things up for us offensively. Talia Mamayek, who couldn’t practice Friday due to injury, gutted out 13 points and 13 rebounds on one leg. She’s turning into one of the most reliable players I have had the pleasure of coaching. And I can’t say enough about the performance of senior Guercy Jean-Pierre, she’s the perfect example of a kid accepting a role and playing it to perfection. I couldn’t be happier for her to have that kind of performance in her final game on our home court”.
The Girls will now advance to the Division 4 North semi-finals for the 3rd time in the past 5 seasons.