PEABODY — It was age before beauty in Friday night’s Northeastern Conference battle between the Peabody and Salem High boys basketball teams.
While a pair of explosive freshmen for the visiting Witches put on an offensive show, the veteran Tanners answered with big makes of their own and caused a boatload of turnovers to pull away for a 60-49 victory in front of a happy home crowd.
A 20-4 second quarter run ensured that Peabody (7-1) remained unbeaten in NEC play and sent Salem (3-1) to its first loss of the young season. Peabody guards Jariel Tolentino, Raph Laurent and A.J. Forte had a high number of deflections in a decisive quarter that saw the Witches commit eight of their 18 total turnovers.
“We switched from man-to-man to zone after the first quarter and I really liked how we looked in the zone,” said Tanner coach Thad Broughton. “The steals and deflections gave us a lot of opportunities to get out in transition. I thought everybody played pretty well for us.”
By the time the first half ended on a Cam Connolly steal and Forte lay-in to make it a 20-point game (50-30), the Tanners were well in control.
“Their switching defenses really disrupted us,” said Salem coach Tom Doyle. “They made an adjustment, we didn’t adjust to it and they seized control.”
Laurent, who now stands nearly 6-foot-2 but still has the slick shooting and quick first step of a true scoring guard, kept his recent hot hand with 22 points. He made a couple of crossover, stepback 3-pointers to curtail Salem runs in the second half and added a half-dozen rebounds with three assists.
“Raphel does things that I can’t teach,” Broughton said. “He’s got a smooth release and a really good feel for the game. All three of our guards do (Forte and Tolentino being the others). They’re played together a lot and they have some good chemistry.”
Forte, a senior, had 16 points including a ‘can you believe it bounced in’ triple after a Jimmy Festa block that provided the largest lead (21) in the third. Junior forward Connolly nearly posted a double-double with nine points and 10 boards, Yanni Pappas hit a key 3-ball in the second quarter and senior Johnny Lucas scored four while providing his usual defensive energy.
“Cam was particularly strong,” said Broughton. “His rebounding and timing on defense are outstanding. He makes good decisions after steals, finds the open outlet pass and gets it to the right guy.”
Each of Salem’s first 40 points were scored by ninth graders. Jordan Maxson netted a game-high 25 for the Witches with ten of those coming in the first quarter (after which Salem led 14-13). Classmate Elian Rodriguez caught fire from behind the arc in the second half, making four from distance to help Salem cut the lead to nine with just over three minutes to go.
“We showed some character in the way we fought back,” said Doyle. “Peabody took it to us, but we never laid down.”
It wasn’t until senior Eddie Butler made a pair of free throws with 1:09 to go that an upperclassman (and anyone other than Maxson and Rodriguez, for that matter) scored for Salem. While the Witches are thrilled with the confidence and scoring ability of their two young pups, they know more balance offensively will be needed in the coming weeks.
“Both guys have had great starts to their freshman years. We kind of knew they’d be our primary scorers but we do need secondary scorers to step up,” said Doyle. “That’s on me, I’ve got to come up with a gameplan to get some of those guys the ball in scoring positions.”
Perhaps even more impressive than his long-range shooting was Rodriguez’ seven assists (all of which went to Maxson). Maxson had a team-high six rebounds for Salem and Rocco Ryan pulled down four.
Peabody, which has never won a Northeastern Conference basketball title, now has serious aspirations of ending that drought after toppling contenders Beverly and Salem in recent outings. The Tanners travel to Marblehead in a battle for first-place in the Dunn Division on Monday.
“That’s a big game for us. Marblehead is humongous, size-wise,” Broughton said. “They have a lot of very good athletes, too. It’ll be another challenge.”
Peabody 60, Salem 49
at Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse, Peabody
Salem;14;4;12;19;49
Peabody;13;20;17;10;60
Individual scoring
Salem: Maxson 10-3-25, Rodriguez 8-2-22, Butler 0-2-2, Ryan 0-0-0, Grimes 0-0-0, Ozuna 0-0-0, Lane 0-0-0. Totals 18-7-49.
Peabody: Laurent 9-2-22, Forte 7-0-16, Tolentino 2-1-5, Connolly 4-1-9, Lucas 2-0-4, Pappas 1-0-3, Medrano 0-1-1, Festa 0-0-0. Totals 25-5-60.
3-pointers: S, Rodriguez 4, Maxson 2 ; P, Laurent 2, Forte 2, Pappas.
Halftime: P, 50-30
Records: S, 3-1; P, 7-1