LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield boys basketball team had plenty to smile about Friday night when the Pioneers hosted Newburyport.
Celebrating their senior night, the Pioneers raced to a 78-55 win over the Clippers at Lynnfield High and inched one step closer toward grabbing a high seed in the Division 3 state tournament.
Five of Lynnfield’s six seniors made key contributions in nailing down the win. Billy Arseneault led the Pioneers with 23 points, Zach Shone netted 20, Jason Ndansi tallied 13, Dan Jameson added nine and Matt Mortellite scored eight.
“This is one of those unique years where it’s their (seniors) team and their season,” Lynnfield coach Scott McKenzie said. “It was great. We encouraged them to make an effort to get off to a good start physically. The first five minutes of the game made the difference because that set the tone.”
Newburyport was led by 22 points from George Coryell and 19 from Casey McLaren.
The Pioneers used their speed and athleticism to run out to a lead in the first quarter. Lynnfield sprinted to an 11-3 lead coming out of the gate, forcing the Clippers to burn an early timeout. Jameson knocked in a 3-pointer coming out of the timeout, boosting Lynnfield’s lead to 14-3. After one, the Pioneers led 24-16.
“We’re a smaller team,” McKenzie said. “We’re not built to grind it out in the halfcourt. We want to use our speed and I think we have a nice IQ. We want to get the ball into our secondary break with 20 seconds on the shot clock. We want to make our first cut with 23-24 seconds on the clock. We practice that, it’s been our game plan all year.”
Back to back Lynnfield baskets allowed the Pioneers to open up a 28-16 lead to start the second quarter. Newburyport slimmed the deficit back down to eight but the Pioneers offense took command from there. Lynnfield capped the half on a high note with a pair of 3-pointers swished by Shone and Arseneault. At halftime, the Pioneers held a 46-27 advantage.
After Newburyport trimmed the Lynnfield advantage down to 14, Arseneault caught fire from long distance. The co-captain netted a pair of 3-pointers to cushion the lead to 20 points at 56-36. Coryell hit a floater to stop the bleeding for the Clippers but Arseneault knocked in another three at the buzzer. Lynnfield led 61-39 after three, with full control.
“Billy’s a tough kid to guard but when he’s making his shots, you literally cannot guard the kid,” McKenzie said. “That’s not lost on me as a coach. His talent, performance and prolific nature on the court has nothing to do with me as a coach and everything to do with him as a player. He’s just special.”
Sitting in the driver’s seat with a hefty lead, the Pioneers cruised through the fourth quarter. Ndansi hit a pair of buckets and a free throw in the final period to finish the 78-55 win.
After the win, MacKenzie applauded his six seniors for making stellar contributions to the program throughout the season.
“We’re really thin,” McKenzie said. “We essentially play five kids and they’re all seniors. As a team, we’re 16-3 but this is their year. They earned a league title. As a coach, I can’t be more proud to coach five kids who log 30-32 minutes a night, slug it out for 12 weeks and pull off a league title. I’m very proud and fortunate to coach this group.”
Lynnfield (16-3) has one regular season game remaining before shifting its focus to gearing up for the state tournament. The Pioneers visit Melrose on Monday evening (5).