PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Housing Authorities’ Marquis Seals, center, soars between three Jay Walsh defenders during the Lynn Parks & Recreation summer basketball league elementary school final at Marian Gardens on Friday.
By HAROLD RIVERA
LYNN — The Lynn Parks and Rec summer basketball league began its season with 24 teams. Friday night, the league was down to six squads battling for three championships at Marian Gardens.
The three winning teams were John Walsh in the elementary school division, Gannon Building in the middle school division and Old Mill Realty in the high school division.
The elementary school game went down to the wire, as Lynn Housing Authority held a six-point lead with five minutes remaining. That’s when John Walsh mounted a comeback effort. A handful of turnovers proved costly for Lynn Housing, and a late basket from Omri Merryman gave John Walsh the win, 43-39.
Merryman finished the contest with 20 points and earned the game’s MVP award for his efforts. He said he was relieved to come up big after struggling in the games leading up to the championship.
“It feels good that we won because I wasn’t doing so good the last couple games,” Merryman said. “So this feels good.”
Marquise Seals was the top scorer for Lynn Housing with 17 points.
In the middle school game, Gannon Building mounted a double-digit lead in the first-half and never looked back from there. McGrath, a team that went undefeated throughout the season, couldn’t find a way to stop the duo of Mason Jean-Baptiste and Angel Velez. Gannon took the win, 40-24.
Jean-Baptiste was the leading scorer for Gannon with 14 points. He said he wanted to put forth a good performance in front of the fans who attended the game.
“I knew there were going to be a lot of people watching,” Jean-Baptiste said, “so when I have a good game it gives me more confidence.”
He added, “I just try to do my best all the time, and I love this city so that’s why I play.”
Ky’juan Anderson was the leading scorer for McGrath with 11 points.
The high-school championship game featured two talented teams in Old Mill Realty and Columbia Insurance. With less than five minutes left in the game, Old Mill Realty went on a 10-0 run that decided the game and propelled them to a 71-62 win.
Eric Solis was the leading scorer for Old Mill with 24 points while Abraham Diaz contributed with 14.
Solis, who was named the game’s MVP, said his team had to buckle down on defense and communicate on the court to get the win.
“We were playing good defense,” Solis said, “but we just had to talk more. Throughout the game we just had to talk more. Once we played good defense, that’s when our offense came through.”
Shaiheem Mazil was the top scorer for Columbia with 22 points.
As the season comes to a close for Lynn Parks and Rec, organizer Fred Hogan spoke highly of what the program has been able to do for local youth.
“This has been unbelievable,” Hogan said. “We’ve had so many kids come through here. (The championship) is a big community event. It’s a free program in Lynn that all the kids take advantage of and I think it’s great.”
All players who participated in the championship games were awarded trophies, while the winning teams were also given championship t-shirts.
Hogan said he hopes the opportunity to play in a championship game atmosphere will give the players a feeling that they’ll never forget.
“It’s a great feeling because we’re introducing the players and people are cheering their names,” Hogan said. “They’re on a big stage because it’s kind of a big stage when the court is surrounded by people and people are congratulating them.”
On Saturday, Lynn Parks and Rec and Stop the Violence: Lynn will be hosting the Lynn Flag Football Tournament at Manning Field. The Grammar School Division is full, but there are openings for roster spots in the Middle and High School Divisions. The first game of the tournament is scheduled for 8 a.m.