Boys basketball clinches berth in postseason

BY JOE McCONNELL

The Marblehead High School boys basketball team (8-3 in the Northeastern Conference, 10-6 overall) defeated both Danvers (81-47) on Feb. 3 and then Peabody (63-54) four days later to earn its 10th win of the year and secure a state tournament berth.

“We got off to a slow start against Danvers (Marblehead led by just one after one quarter, 13-12), but fortunately the bench players came in and really picked up the pace and the pressure,” said coach Mike Giardi. “We then got a solid lead that we never really relinquished.”

Isaiah Makor and Miles O’Neill led the offensive effort with 12 points apiece. Tryone Countrymon, Magnus McCarthy and Aven Denbow were next in line with nine apiece. Nick Lemmond and Scott Campbell each chipped in with eight. Ryan Commoss and Matthew Sherf netted four apiece.

Cody Bouchard tallied three points.

Cameron Comstock sank one bucket for two points.

The Marblehead boys then avenged an earlier loss to Peabody (64-58) with a solid defensive effort.

“We played one of our best defensive games this year, particularly in the first half when we gave up only 22 points,” Giardi said. “We limited Peabody’s A.J. Forte to just 18 points — he had 33 against us in the first game that we ended up losing.

“We got strong inside play from our bigs — Scott Campbell, Miles O’Neill and Ryan Commoss — to account for 18 second-chance points and a total of 36 in the paint,” added the veteran Marblehead coach.

The Magicians led, 33-22, at halftime and were able to maintain that pace throughout the second half. Campbell was the team’s big gun with 17 points. Makor accounted for 13. Lemmond had nine, O’Neill eight and Countrymon seven, helping their teammates stay ahead of the Tanners. Commoss poured in six. McCarthy ended up with three points.

“We’re now in the state tournament, but we are still fighting for seeding,” said Giardi. “We hope to finish out the NEC season strong with games against Masco, Gloucester and then technically a non-league game against Swampscott.”

Only the teams’ first game — a 61-60 Marblehead win on Jan. 13 — counts in the league.

Boys hockey beats rival

After Winthrop snapped its sevengame unbeaten streak, handing the Magicians a 7-3 defeat, the Marblehead boys hockey team (5-3 in the Northeastern Conference, 9-4-3 overall) got back on the winning track against rival Swampscott on Feb. 8, 6-2.

Junior defensive captain Hogan Sedky is one of the leading scorers on the team to date with 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points.

As of Feb. 10, coach Mark Marfione’s team is ranked 12th overall in Division

2. Duxbury is the top-ranked team with an 11-4-2 overall record, followed by Canton (14-3), Tewksbury Memorial (14-1-1), Walpole (10-5), WhitmanHanson (9-6-1), Newburyport (9-6-2), Plymouth South (12-4-1), Gloucester (10-4-1), Wakefield Memorial (8-6-

2), Algonquin (11-3-2), Silver Lake Regional (10-6-1) and Marblehead (9-4-3).