BOSTON — As he jogged off the parquet floor at TD Garden and through the tunnel towards the locker room, Salem High senior Eddie Butler took a moment to stop and touch the giant Boston Celtics logo he’s seen so many NBA players run past on television.
It was a well-earned moment of reflection for the senior guard, whose performance in Sunday afternoon’s Andrew Lawson Invitational was called “Jayson Tatum-esque” by one Salem High coach.
Behind Butler’s career-high 24 points plus a few clutch late plays by their freshman dynamic duo of Jordan Maxson and Elian Rodriguez, the Witches held off Marblehead, 66-61, in a Northeastern Conference Beantown thriller.
“To have a career high for high school at the Garden? That’s surreal,” said Butler, who scored 18 of his 24 in the second half. “My goal coming into any game is to play hard the whole time. I kind of got in a zone in the third quarter, and everything seemed to be working for me. My teammates made plays to get me open, and I just made my shots.”
Marblehead trailed by 15 points going into the fourth quarter (55-40) thanks to an absolute barrage by Butler, who took charge with a personal 8-0 spurt after the Magicians made it a three-point game early in the third. The Magicians dug in defensively, though, and chipped away.
Captain Nick Lemmond (15 points) rattled off six straight points to cut it to three at 62-59 in the final minute. His heat-check 3-pointer on the next possession nearly tied the game, but rimmed out.
“We realized we needed to be in go-mode,” Lemmond said of his team’s late push. “We were trying to push as fast as we could — and keep pushing.”
Salem (5-2) executed three successive in-bounds passes without turning the ball over in the final 37.7 seconds. Maxson then grabbed a steal and made a quick lay-up to extend his team’s lead with 14.4 ticks left. Marblehead, however, ran a perfect catch-and-shoot for two to get within one possession again with 5.0 seconds to work with.
Forced to foul, the Magicians could only watch as Salem’s Rodriguez calmly knocked down two free throws to ice the lead. The ninth grader finished with 14 points and, amazingly, was a perfect 7-for-7 from the line under the Garden’s bright lights.
“It felt really good to play at the Garden,” said Rodriguez. “It’s something I never thought would happen.”
These NEC rivals got to play on the parquet as part of the annual invitational played in honor of Andrew Lawson, a Special Olympics Hall of Famer from Norwell who passed away in 2018 after battling cancer. There were 10 games involving boys, girls and unified teams from around state playing Sunday and raising money for the Lawson Foundation.
Both schools sold more than 400 tickets, and there were close to 2,000 fans on hand for the North Shore clash.
“The crowd was great today,” said Marblehead (4-2) senior captain Scott Campbell. “We walked out there and kind of couldn’t believe it. It was a surreal moment.”
Maxson was hot early and scored 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter as the Witches jumped ahead, 18-11. The lead swelled to as many as 17 at the midway point of the second.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” said Maxson. “Just to feel that atmosphere in here, and for us to all perform the way we did … it was a crazy moment.”
Ryan Commoss (team-high 17 points) helped the Magicians cut the lead to 10 by halftime. Sparked by some excellent defense from Cam Comstock and Adrian Baron and some transition buckets by Lemmond, Marblehead got within one possession at 39-36.
“One of the things we said before the game was, which team is going to realize they’re in a basketball game and not be in awe of the Garden?” Marblehead coach Mike Giardi said of his team’s slow start. “I loved our start to the second half … but we kind of ran out of gas.”
That’s when Butler took over, sparking a 16-4 run that put Salem back in control. He had a couple of key assists (2 to senior big-man Corey Grimes, who had one of his best outings with 8 points) and really got hot from distance with four 3-pointers.
“The 3’s felt really good for me today,” Butler said.
Freshman Finn Baron also gave the Magicians some key minutes.
Before the last whistle, both teams emptied their benches and made sure every player that dressed got to check-in on the Garden floor.
“I loved our fight and our energy,” said Giardi. “But I have to credit Salem. Eddie (Butler) caught fire, and things can get away from you fast at the Garden.”
Though Marblehead had the ball with a chance to tie twice in the last 90 seconds, Salem hunkered down and got the stops.
“There were some scary moments there, but our guys pulled together and executed down the stretch,” said Salem coach Tom Doyle, who was most impressed with the way his three big scorers (Butler, Maxson and Rodriguez) moved the basketball. “All three guys did a great job of both getting their own and playing team basketball. They did a great job at both ends of the court.”
Salem 66, Marblehead 61
Andrew Lawson Invitational at TD Garden, Boston
Salem 18 18 19 11 66
Marblehead 11 15 14 21 61
Individual scoring
Marblehead: Commoss 6-5-17, Lemmond 6-3-15, Thompson 2-2-7, Campbell 6-3-16, A. Baron 1-0-3, F. Baron 1-0-3, Comstock 0-0-0. Totals 22-13-61.
Salem: Maxson 6-5-18, Ozuna 0-0-0, Ryan 1-0-2, Butler 10-0-24, Rodriguez 3-7-14, Grimes 4-0-8. Totals 24-12-66.
Three-pointers: M, Thompson, Campbell, A. Baron, F. Baron; S, Butler 4, Maxson, Rodriguez.
Records: M, 4-2; S, 5-2.