LYNN— The Classical boys basketball team is one of the toughest squads to beat in the Northeastern Conference. And when the Rams are knocking in their threes and playing stingy defense, defeating them is an even taller task.
Tuesday night at Classical, Saugus found out the hard way as the Rams hit nine 3-pointers and held the Sachems to 31 points in a 82-31 win.
“When we don’t take chances on defense, we’re really hard to beat,” Classical coach Jasper Grassa said. “The offense will come along as the season goes but the defense is in control of all of that. If our defense really focuses, we’re a tough team to beat.”
Edwin Solis led all scorers with 15 points, while Jaylen Johnson added 12 and Dyrrell Rucker tallied 11. Erick Solis and Jeff Hill Jr. each finished with nine points. The Rams featured 10 different scorers.
“We only had 10 players in uniform too, so that’s great to see,” Grassa said. “It was good. Everyone’s on the same page and they’re all playing together. Most importantly, they’re all playing unselfish. I think that’s the first time we can honestly say we’ve played unselfish all year.”
Saugus was driven by 11 points from Vincent Cirame and eight from Mike Mabee.
The Sachems took a quick lead behind buckets from Jake Morgante and Mason Nickolas. Down 4-3, the Rams sprinted out to a 13-0 rally to claim a 17-4 advantage. Johnson netted three lay-ins and Edwin Solis swished a 3-pointer to power the Classical spurt. Mabee ended the Saugus drought with a 3-pointer to close the period. The Rams led 17-7 at the end of the first quarter.
“Classical’s solid across the board from Johnson to the Solis brothers,” Saugus coach Mark Bertrand said. “They’re good players and we knew it. We had a battle last night against Northeast so I told our kids that we were going to find out what it’s like to play back to back games.”
Classical opened up a 20-point lead in the second quarter when the Rams began to hit their shots from beyond the arc. Edwin Solis banked in three 3-pointers and Hill Jr. came off the bench to knock home two. The Sachems swished a trio of 3-pointers but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Classical, who forced Saugus into a handful of turnovers with its high-pressure defense. Saugus trailed 40-20 at halftime.
“I thought we played pretty well in the first half,” Bertrand said. “I was a little disappointed in some of the things we did and I knew it was going to be a tough second half. Jasper does a great job getting his guys ready. We just didn’t respond and we don’t have any excuses. That’s life in the NEC.”
The Rams put the game out of reach in the third quarter. Eric Ramsay joined in on the fun with a 3-point play after corralling a Classical miss and drawing a foul on a lay-in. Ramsay’s free throw put the Rams up 55-24 and they led 67-25 at the end of three.
Edwin Solis and Jeff Barbosa opened the fourth quarter with back to back 3-pointers from the wing and the Rams reserves closed out the 82-31 victory from there.
“I give my kids credit,” Bertrand said. “They didn’t give up and they played hard. There’s a lot of talent at Classical and when you’re rebuilding, it’s always tough.”
Classical bumped its record to 8-3 and now moves forward to Friday night’s (7) tilt at Gloucester.
“Gloucester’s having a really good season,” Grassa said. “They beat Salem, and Salem put it on us so they’re going to be tough. They beat Marblehead as well and that’s another good team.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Grassa added. “We can play bad and still get a win so it’s just about how we’re playing at the end of the day.”
The Sachems (2-8) travel to Lynn again Friday night (7) for a clash at English.
“Antonio (Anderson) does a good job at English,” Bertrand said. “He’s coached my son, Dan, a few times. He does a great job so we have another battle ahead of us but that’s why we like the NEC. If we can make the tournament, the NEC has always paid off for that.”