Published January 16, 2019

By JAMES CRANNEY

NORTH READING — Last week, the Lynnfield boys’ basketball team went 2-0 picking up big wins against Amesbury and archrival North Reading. The Pioneers got things started at home Tuesday night dominating Amesbury 66-44. Friday night, Lynnfield finished the week on the road with a massive 71-64 rivalry victory over North Reading.

Pioneers handle Amesbury

In the midst of a four game losing streak, the boys in blue needed to find a way to turn the tide. When the 1-4 Amesbury Indians came to town, the Pioneers got exactly what they needed. Lynnfield took an early 17-8 lead after one quarter and would not look back. The already stout Pioneer defense continued to shut down the opposition, giving up only single digits in each of the first two quarters. In the end, Lynnfield would secure their second victory of the season 66-44 on home court.

Late Hornet surge no problem for Pioneers

If the Pioneers wanted to win consecutive games for the first time all season, they would have to do it on the road. Last Friday night, Lynnfield would go behind enemy lines to do battle with the 3-4 rival Hornets of North Reading.

Lynnfield got the scoring started early with a mid-range jumper from junior guard Maxmilian Boustris (five points).

North Reading responded with a basket, but sophomore guard Jack Ford (27 points) sparked a Pioneer run with a perimeter shot followed by a 3-pointer. The Pioneer defense confused the Hornets early on, applying pressure on each North Reading possession. However, as the first quarter came to an end the Hornets finally made a run, cutting the deficit to a single point.

JACK FORD took over for the Pioneers down the stretch in North Reading on Friday night, scoring 27 points during Lynnfield’s second straight win. (Bob Turosz Photo)

Jack Ford would open the second quarter launching a 3-point shot that bounced around the rim until finally falling. Later on in the quarter, Boustris and junior Anthony Hunt would join the 3-point party with buckets of their own from beyond the arc. Despite the high offensive production, North Reading would hang tough finishing the quarter once again down just one point, 35-34.

The third quarter would began the same way as the previous one, with a Lynnfield 3. This time it came from junior Clayton Marengi (15 points). Minutes later, Marengi hit another 3; a proceeding a Khad Connell (nine points) basket down low would then force the Hornets to call a timeout trailing 46-37. Only five minutes remained in the quarter, but in that time North Reading would chip away at the deficit by attacking the paint. Lynnfield would go into the final quarter now only leading 52-47.

The Hornets went into the fourth quarter with the same offensive strategy, taking it to the hole. With just over six minutes left in the game, a William Taylor basket down low cut Lynnfield’s lead to just one. Minutes later, North Reading got their first lead of the second half when senior guard Ryan Connor dropped a 3 from the corner, sending the crowd into a frenzy. This would not phase Jack Ford though, who would take over from there.

Ford went right down the court and took the lead back driving to the basket for the lay in. On the next Pioneer possession, Ford would pull up from downtown and silence the North Reading faithful. Ford would once again drive to the hole on the next two possessions giving Lynnfield a 66-60 lead with under two minutes to go. Following a Pioneer steal and North Reading blocking foul, Ford mad both free throws from the line giving Lynnfield a 68-60 lead with barely a minute left.

“He’s a talented kid,” commented Pioneer head coach Scott MacKenzie after the game on Jack Ford’s performance. “I think he’s also a kid that no matter where he is, he feels like he’s the best guy on the floor and that’s a pretty good combination.”

North Reading would make a late run in the final minutes, but it would not be enough as Lynnfield secured their second straight victory 71-64. The Pioneers began the week at the bottom of the standings at 1-6, but by week’s end found themselves at 3-6 with plenty of basketball on the horizon.

Coach MacKenzie knows his team is heading in the right direction but does not want the team to get ahead of themselves.

“We got two wins in a row, we’re happy,” he said.

Lynnfield traveled to Ipswich (2-5) on Tuesday night after press time and host undefeated Pentucket (9-0) on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.