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Matt Waggett led the Sachems with 19 points against Fenwick.
By MIKE ALONGI
SAUGUS — Behind some hot three-point shooting and suffocating defense, the Saugus boys basketball team took down Bishop Fenwick, 77-59, in a non-conference matchup at Saugus High on Friday night.
“This was a great win for us tonight against a very good team,” said Saugus coach Paul Moran. “They’re just coming off a big tournament win a couple days ago, so we knew they would come in with some confidence. Right now if we can beat a team like that, I’m happy.”
Senior captain Matt Waggett led the way for the Sachems, just missing a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. Senior captain Chris McGrane did record a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Demetri Filaretos had 18 points and five rebounds. Senior Ronnie Lusso had 13 points and senior Devon Lee finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Saugus (2-4) put on a three-point shooting exhibition, hitting 10 of 15 shots from behind the arc with Waggett and Filaretos combining for eight of them.
“We really wanted to get out there and move the ball around tonight,” said Paul Moran. “We figured that would help us get good shots, and I think we did a really good job of that tonight.”
For Fenwick (3-4), senior captain Ryan Veguilla and junior captain Isaiah Cashwell-Doe each scored 15 points. Senior Klaus Llanaj and sophomore Nik Pignone each scored 12 points.
“I thought we played well tonight, our effort was very good,” said Fenwick coach Kevin Moran. “This is always a tough matchup for us with their size, and they’re a very solid team. But I’m proud of our execution, we just didn’t get enough baskets tonight.”
The Sachems utilized their size advantage early, jumping into passing lanes and winning the battles on the boards. But, thanks almost singlehandedly to Cashwell-Doe, Fenwick was able to keep it close and finish the quarter only down three points, 16-13.
“We have very solid guards, they’re the strength of our offense,” said Kevin Moran. “But with Saugus’ length, they cover the whole floor so well and it’s tough to get good shots off.”
“I thought the bigs played really well for us tonight,” said Paul Moran. “We wanted to use our height to our advantage and we were able to. But give all the credit in the world to Fenwick, they did not make it easy for us.”
It looked like this one was on its way to being a defensive standoff, but then Saugus started hitting shots. Waggett came to life in the second quarter, hitting a few threes along with Filaretos to start to extend the lead. Waggett finished the first half with 15 points, including a buzzer-beater from half court to put the Sachems up 40-25.
The second half saw Saugus extend the lead even more. Lusso had a great third quarter on offense, driving the lane repeatedly and getting to the foul line. The third quarter is also when McGrane started getting baskets on offense. He had been rebounding the entire game, but he scored all 16 of his points in the second half, 12 of them in the fourth quarter to help put the game away.
Fenwick made one final run to try to get back in it, but Saugus was too good on the glass and too hot from the field. The Sachems were able to dribble out the clock for the final few minutes and walk away with the win.
“This was a good game for us, and hopefully it gets us on track moving forward,” said Paul Moran.
Saugus is back in action on Tuesday night when they travel to Winthrop to play the Vikings. Fenwick now has 10 days off before a home game against Archbishop Williams on January 10.