Newburyport certainly looked the part of a Division 3 championship favorite during its first round game on Friday night.
It was Cal Atherton (24 pts) and Zayd Leanna (20 pts) leading the way offensively, and the No. 3 Clippers opened up a big halftime lead before coasting to victory over No. 30 Pembroke, 76-40. The win advances the Clippers (19-2) to the Division 3 Round of 16 for the second straight year, where they’ll host No. 14 Boston Latin Academy on Tuesday for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff.
Everyone got into the game.
Carson Gretz made three 3s and added 11 points, Ben Corneau hit two triples and finished with 8 points, and Sam Craig chipped in 6 points. And interestingly enough, Boston Latin beat No. 19 Charlestown in their first round game on Friday — last year’s state champion who beat Newburyport in the quarterfinals.
Ackerman, Amesbury upset No. 7 Walpole
This isn’t new for the Amesbury hockey program.
Remember just two years ago? The Redhawks entered as the No. 19 seed in the Division 4 state tournament, but advanced to the quarterfinals after earning upset wins over No. 14 Assabet Valley and No. 3 Winthrop. The program has been up in Division 2 for the last two years now, but that “upset gene” is still inside of them.
Thursday night, Amesbury — seeded No. 26 in Div. 2 — traveled down to No. 7 Walpole and pulled off the stunner, winning 4-1. Wes Ackerman led the way offensively with three goals, and senior captain Bodie Marcotte had both a goal and an assist. The Redhawks (9-10-2) advance to the Round of 16, where they’ll travel down to face No. 10 Boston Latin on Sunday at the John A. Ryan Arena (1:15 p.m.).
Where the upset really came together, though, was defensively. Besides Nick Boothroyd coming up huge with 32 saves, Amesbury had to kill three penalties near the start of the third period when it was still just a 2-1 game. But defensemen Riley Guertin, Evan Murphy, Lincoln Kime and Brogan Arivella held their ground, and the Redhawks were able to add an insurance goal with three minutes left before sending home an empty-netter.
Crowe, Gagnon and Pentucket eventually pull away
The Pentucket girls basketball team probably wants to forget the first eight minutes of its Division 3 playoff opener on Thursday. The patented defense just wasn’t there for the No. 7 Panthers, who actually trailed upset-minded No. 26 Stoneham, 17-15, after the first quarter.
But man did things change quickly.
Pentucket would win the next two quarters by a combined 23 points, and used that to pull away from the Spartans for the 68-47 victory. It’s a win that puts the Panthers (18-5) into the Round of 16 for the fourth straight year, and the program will look to advance to its third straight quarterfinal when it hosts No. 10 Apponequet on Tuesday (6 p.m.).
But getting back to Thursday’s first round game, the usual suspects stepped up. Amelia Crowe finished with a game-high 24 points, and Allie Gagnon hit three 3s and chipped in 19 points. Floor general Sofia Bellacqua had another solid game with 9 points, and Devyn Walsh was right behind her with 8 points.