SWAMPSCOTT — Move the ball. Find the open man. Make your free throws. Hold off runs by your opponent.
The Beverly High boys basketball team did the first two things at times Tuesday night, but really locked down in those final two aspects, leading to a 69-56 triumph over host Swampscott.
Senior captain Jacob Klass led all scorers with 24 points, going 11-for-11 from the charity stripe. Fellow senior Domenic Panniello-Torres added 14 points as the Orange-and-Black (now 12-3), who never trailed, won their sixth straight.
“My message to the boys after the game was we didn’t play our best, but we never faltered and kept pushing forward, slowly building the lead up to where we could feel comfortable at the end,” Beverly head coach Matt Karakoudas said. “That says a lot about our guys, because there were multiple points where we could’ve folded against a good team on the road, but didn’t.”
Up by four points at halftime, the Panthers extended that to seven points after three quarters before pulling away over the final eight minutes, thanks in large part to an 11-1 run that saw their lead swell to 15 (62-47) with just 4:13 remaining.
For the game, Beverly — which has been living at the free throw line lately — made 22-of-26 attempts Tuesday night.
Swampscott (11-4) showed plenty of gumption throughout and never stopped trying to shoot its way back into the contest. Their standout players certain did their thing as senior captain Connor Chiarello went for 21 points (5 above his season average) and super sophomore Teddy O’Neill added 17.
An O’Neill three at the buzzer and ensuing free throw made it 19-19 after one quarter. But the Big Blue, who were at a height disadvantage (but rebounded well) could ultimately never garner the lead.
“I liked our fight tonight,” head coach Jason Knowles said. “Beverly’s an excellent team with an excellent coach and they’re going to get their shots; when they got them, they made them. We just didn’t have enough of ours fall for us.”
After starting the season winning their first nine games, the Big Blue have now dropped four of their last six. Considering the strength of the opponents they’ve lost, to, however (Salem, Masconomet, Lynn Classical and now Beverly), Knowles chose to focus on the positive.
“When I saw our schedule and that we’d be playing the toughest part of it over the final month of the regular season, I wasn’t upset,” he said. “We want to play against the best teams in the area; the more we see it, the better prepared we’ll be for the state tournament.
While finishing just under their 75.4 points-per-game average, Karakoudas made sure to let his squad know that he wasn’t happy with the offense, particularly in how they moved the ball. Aside from Klass driving, drawing double teams and kicking it out to the wing for wide open 3-pointers, he felt there were too many instances in which a Panther forced a shot and didn’t look for an open teammate.
“It’s not about individual points,” he stressed afterwards. “Nobody cares if you averaged 15 points in the (Northeastern Conference); what people what to know is, did you win? Were you a winner? I’d much rather have a state championship ring than a piece of paper saying ‘NEC all-star’ on it.
“It’s not easy to have five guys on the floor who can all score the ball,” he added. “We’ve been working on sharing the ball all season. If we get 5-6-7 passes in the offense, it’s layup, layup, layup. It’s a work in progress; it always is.”
Eli Landman scored all 10 of his points in the second half for Beverly, with captain Danny Pierce adding eight.
Chase Groothuis and Michael Lutko both added eight points for Swampscott.
Beverly 69, Swampscott 56
at Swampscott High School gymnasium
Beverly: Jacob Klass 6-11-24, Andrew Braganca 1-1-3, Eli Landman 3-3-10, Dom Pagniello-Torres 5-4-14, Danny Pierce 3-2-8, Connie Panda 2-0-6, Ben Daughty 0-0-0, Jackson Ulrich 1-1-4, Jaxon Patterson 0-0-0. Totals 21-22-69. Swampscott: Connor Chiarello 5-10-21, Chase Groothuis 4-0-8, Teddy O’Neill 5-5-17, Cole Manning 0-1-1; Michael Lutko 3-0-8, Sam Moscoso 0-1-1, Will Rowe 0-0-0, Dean Collins 0-0-0. Totals 17-16-56. Halftime: Beverly, 31-27.
Three-pointers: B, Panda 2, Klass, Landman, Ulrich; S, O’Neill 3, Lutko 2, Chiarello.
Records: B, 12-3; S, 11-4.
Contact Phil Stacey
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