The Saugus boys basketball team ended its regular season on a high note, grabbing a 61-31 win over Essex Tech on the Sachems’ home floor.
Sophomore Christian Correia led the Sachems with 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Joey Lusso scored 14 points and Paul Stamatopoulos, who recently returned to action from an injury, added 12 points.
“It was a huge win,” Saugus coach Mark Bertrand said. “That’s the best game we’ve played all year. The offense was clicking. Essex Tech is a good team. It was a pretty close game and we broke away a little bit there at the end.”
Saugus, 5-15, now awaits Friday’s tournament pairings.
“It’s a clean slate,” Bertrand said. “We’re getting ourselves tournament ready. We’ve always said the NEC is a great conference to get you ready for the tournament. We’re going to take what we’ve built and hopefully it helps us in the tournament.”
BC High 68, Marblehead 49
At BC High, Derek Marino led the Magicians with 15 points in their regular season finale. Seamus Keaney added 14 points.
The loss doesn’t affect the Magicians moving forward into the state tournament pairings as the game was an exclusion game. Marblehead now looks to Friday’s state tournament pairings.
Pope John 78, Winthrop 60
Tayjuan McKenzie led Winthrop with 18 points on senior night. Devin Pulsifer added 17 points and Chrono Washington scored 10.
Winthrop (9-11) will play South Boston in the state tournament.
BOYS HOCKEY
Lynn 5, Hamilton-Wenham 2
In the Newburyport Tournament championship, John DiFilippo scored two goals and earned tournament MVP to lead the way. Brian Clougherty had a goal and two assists, tallying 62 points for the season. Travis Ryan scored a goal and dished one assist, Matt Devin scored a goal and Mike Clougherty dished two assists.
Goalie Jack Gallant made 25 saves and earned all-tournament team nomination.
With a 4-2 lead, Devin scored an empty-netter to seal the win. Lynn closes the regular season at 11-5-4 and awaits Saturday’s pairings.
Malden Catholic 2, St. Mary’s 1
At the Cardinal Classic in Springfield, the Lancers scored twice in the early stages of the third period before Damon Maribito found the back of the net to make it a 2-1 game. St. Mary’s (12-5-4) aims to bounce back in today’s consolation game.
St. John’s 3, Braintree 3
The Eagles held a 3-1 lead in the third period before Braintree scored twice in the late stages to salvage a tie.
Zach McKennelly, Brian Carrabes and Ryan Hart each scored a goal for St. John’s.
The Eagles close the regular season 13-3-4 and await Saturday’s tournament pairings.
GIRLS HOCKEY
Melrose 4, Peabody 2
Mae Norton and Jess Robert each scored a goal for the Tanners in the final game of their regular season. The Red Raiders’ first three goals were scored on power plays. Peabody (11-7-2) now awaits the state tournament pairings which will be announced Saturday.
“We didn’t play our best today,” said Peabody coach Michelle Roach. “We spent too much time in the penalty box, but just weren’t winning the one-v-ones and were slow to the puck at times.”
Fenwick 4, Auburn 2
With their season on the line, the Crusaders celebrated senior day in a big way, coming from two goals down to keep their tournament hopes alive.
The Crusaders (8-9-2) now need to defeat Wilmington this morning at Stoneham Arena in their final game to qualify.
Trailing 2-0, the Crusaders started their upward climb with a goal by Gabby Davern. Amanda Blanchette and Lexi McNeil notched the assists.
McNeil (from Allison Countie) tied the score at 2-2 3:07 into the middle period, then Shannon Nagy (from Olivia Lojacono) scored the eventual game-winner at the 10:28 mark.
Blanchette added an insurance goal midway through the final period with Jill Matucchi and Lojacono picking up the assists.
“No doubt, the biggest goal of the game was the Nagy goal,” said Fenwick coach Doug Anderson. “The first line got their three goals, but for the second line to have such a good game and contribute on the scoreboard gave us the scoring balance we needed.”