Published January 20, 2021
By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI
LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield High boys’ basketball team notched its first victory of the season on Friday night as they defeated host Rockport 56-39. With that win, the Pioneers improved to 1-3.
“It was a good team effort,” said Pioneers head coach John Bakopolus, who posted his first varsity win as a head coach.
This game was closer than the final score would indicate as the Pioneers only led, 36-33, going into the fourth quarter before they outscored the Vikings, 20-6, to pull away.
“We got some steals that turned into transition points,” said Bakopolus, about the fourth quarter. “The defense stepped up.”
Blake Peters led the Pioneers in scoring with 14 points while Luke Martinho added 12. Alex Gentile and Jack Ford both chipped in 10 points each as four Lynnfield players ended up in double digits in scoring for the first time this year.
“It is encouraging to see the balanced scoring,” said Bakopolus.
Gentile led the team in rebounds with seven while Ford, who just committed to play football at Bentley University, led the squad in assists with six.
On Jan. 13, the Pioneers’ comeback attempt came up just short as they lost 61-56 at home to Newburyport.
The Clippers came out red-hot in the first quarter and led 22-4. However, the Pioneers were able to get their feet under them and cut the lead to nine (31-22) at the half.
Lynnfield was then able to get the lead down to three (56-53) with just over a minute left but the guests were then able to hold on.
“They hit a lot of 3-pointers early on,” said Bakopolus. “We then started to chip away as we did a good job of battling back.”
Martinho had a team-high 16 points while Ford had eight and a team-high seven assists. Dante Gesamondo led the team in rebounds for the second time this winter with 10.
The home game against Pentucket on Jan. 19 was postponed due to COVID-19 issues and will be made up later on this season (make-up date unknown as of press time).
Lynnfield’s next game will be on Friday (Jan. 22) at 5:45 p.m. when they welcome Amesbury.
