There’s having an illness run through your team, then there’s what the Georgetown boys are dealing with right now.
Which is basically welcoming in the entire JV roster.
During Thursday’s loss down at Salem, the Royals had four key members of the rotation out sick. And a day later, that number grew to five when the team had to make a quick turnaround and host Rockport. But despite the odds stacked against them, the Royals instead received great contributions from their normal bench players — forced into larger roles — to take down the Vikings, 59-43.
Starting point guard Brendan Loewen thankfully avoided the bug and finished with 10 points, and senior captain Jack Duggan hit three 3s and led the Royals (7-4) with 13 points. But entering the starting lineup, Aleks Dimov had his best career game with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Rayner Hernandez also chipped in 10 points on three triples, and John Alcantara added 8 points.
For the Georgetown girls, their defense was elite over the weekend.
The Royals needed something positive after dropping three of their past four games, and got it with a stifling win over Cohasset, 46-31. Talya Mariani once again led the way offensively, finishing with a game-high 13 points. Both Avery Upite and Katie Davies were in double figures with 10 points, and the duo of Ella Thompson and Victoria Barbarick hit 3s.
Georgetown (7-5) was sliding a bit at No. 13 in the latest Division 4 rankings, but Saturday’s win should steady the ship.
AMESBURY: Both boys and girls earn 20-point wins
The Amesbury boys needed this one … and badly.
Not only were the Redhawks in the middle of a three-game skid, they also came into Friday’s game having dropped seven of their last eight to fall outside of the Division 4 playoff field in the latest rankings (No. 34). If any turnaround was going to happen it needed to start with just one game, and thankfully the Redhawks were able to get that over the weekend.
Sophomore guard Connor Mazzaglia led the way with 15 points, and Amesbury was able to cruise comfortably to a victory over Ipswich, 64-44. Elsewhere, Justin Dube hit a 3 and had 13 points for the Redhawks (5-7), John Adams chipped in 12 points, and Trey Sullivan was also in double figures with 10 points off a pair of 3s.
Meanwhile for the girls, everyone got some playing time on Friday.
Ellison Talbot connected on four 3s and had a game-high 20 points, and the Redhawks had little issue taking down Ipswich, 60-19. Bailey Kimball made two triples and added 10 points, while freshman Delaney Sargent put together one of her better games with 9 points.
The Redhawks (7-6) came in ranked No. 26 in the latest Division 4 poll that was released earlier in the morning.
NEWBURYPORT: Gretz, boys hang 100 in another win
The freight train just keeps on rolling.
Even the bench couldn’t stop hitting shots on Friday, as the Newburyport boys hit the rare triple-digit mark on the scoreboard in a blowout of Essex Tech, 100-57. Cal Atherton led the way with 24 points while Carson Gretz was right behind with 21, as the Clippers (12-1) hit the benchmark even with starter Zayd Leanna out.
The victory was the 10th in a row for the Clippers, who also got 11 points from Ben Cormier and 9 each from Sam Craig, Ben Corneau and Brady Kebler. Despite the previous wins (Friday’s not included), the program did drop a spot from No. 4 to 5 in the latest MIAA Division 3 rankings.
And the Newburyport girls similarly didn’t have any issues on Friday.
Olivia Foley and Clara Thompson each led the way with 9 points, and the Clippers stifled Essex Tech for a 38-22 victory. It was the second win in a row for the Clippers (7-4), who also got a season-best 7 points from Caitlin Downey and are now up to No. 21 in the Division 3 rankings.
PENTUCKET: Gagnon does it all for Pentucket
It’s pretty fair to say that both the Pentucket and Lynnfield girls basketball teams didn’t bring their best on Friday night.
But at the end of the day, that didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that the Panthers ended up having the best player on the court: Allie Gagnon.
The junior guard did a bit of everything to lead Pentucket to a 35-23 win, pouring in 16 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 steals. Amelia Crowe was also in double figures with 10 points on a pair of 3s for the Panthers (11-2), who have now won eight in a row.
“She was everywhere for us,” said Pentucket coach John McNamara on Gagnon. “Not a lot of energy from us tonight, so she carried us.”
And of course, every win is critical for Pentucket. The program has either been the No. 8 or 9 seed every year since the MIAA moved to the statewide format, and are once again sitting at No. 8 with the latest release of the rankings on Friday morning.
The Pentucket boys, meanwhile, finished an up-and-down week.
A loss to Ipswich back on Monday was immediately responded to by a nice victory over Stoneham the following day. But on Friday, the Panthers hosted a solid Lynnfield team, on were on the wrong end of a 68-46 setback. Matt Pipan hit six 3s and poured in a team-high 19 points for the Panthers (3-10), while fellow senior captain Dylan Scott drained three 3s and had 16 points.
TRITON: Tough night for Vikings against North Reading
Heading into the fourth quarter, it was still only a 9-point deficit for the Triton boys.
But everything seemed to come undone rather quickly during the final frame for the Vikings, as visiting North Reading only built upon its lead to walk away with the 62-45 victory. The Vikings (6-7) ended up having three in double figures between Jason Holscher with 14 points, Liam Friis with 11 and Mateus Pinto with 10.
And it was a similar story on the girls’ end.
One-loss North Reading flexed its muscle at home, locking down Triton for the 37-15 victory. Lily D’Andrea hit a 3 and led the Vikings (4-8) with 11 points.