Published February 13, 2020

By DAN NUNN

NORTH READING — The Ham.-Wen. Generals banked in a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to stun the Hornets and hand North Reading a heartbreaking 59-56 defeat on Feb. 4. Soph. Cody Cannalonga had yet another scintillating shooting performance with 22 pts including five 3’s. Jr. captain Will Taylor scored 16 pts.

The Generals got off to a great start and led 14-6 midway through the first quarter. But NRHS was undeterred and controlled the rest of the first half. They went on to outscore Hamilton-Wenham 25-10 and led 31-24 at the break. The Hornets kept the Generals at arm’s length in the third quarter and maintained a 47-38 lead after three.

The Generals completely turned things around in the fourth. Hamilton-Wenham whittled down the lead little by little and with 1:30 left they had fought all the way back to tie it at 56-56. The score remained tied as the clock ticked down and it looked like the contest was headed for overtime. Unfortunately, the Generals hit a deep 3-pointer that banked in off the backboard to escape with the improbable victory.

Second-half surge leads to win over Masco

The Hornets scored an incredible 46 second half points to surge past the Masconomet Chieftains 78-59 on Friday night. Will Taylor led the way with a game-high 23 points. Cannalonga scored 21 points, senior captain Jack Keller had 17 points and senior Ryan Kavanaugh added 10 points. North Reading shot an outstanding 27-34 from the free throw line.

It was a back-and-forth first quarter. Masco held a 10-4 lead at the 4:52 mark, NRHS fought back to tie it at 10 but by the end of one the Chieftains’ lead was back up six at 18-12. North Reading turned things around in the second quarter, outscoring the visitors 20-12 and took a 32-30 advantage into the break.

The Hornets came out of the locker room and looked like a different team in the third as their full court press defense fueled a scoring barrage. They blitzed Masco with 33 points and took a huge 65-46 lead into the final quarter. The rout continued as North Reading went up by as much as 24 in the fourth.

The Hornets went into Tuesday night’s game against Ipswich needing one win to qualify for the Div. 3 North tourney. North Reading cruised to a 72-29 win. A full story will appear next week. The Hornets travel to Triton on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and conclude their regular season with a home game against Bedford, Sunday at 1 p.m.