LYNNFIELD — Scoring 1,000 points is always a highlight of any high school basketball player’s career, but when you do it in only three years, it’s all the more impressive.
Wednesday night at Lynnfield High, Lynnfield senior captain Billy Arseneault became the first Pioneer in 10 years to hit the 1,000-point milestone, finishing with 17 points in the No. 2 seeded Pioneers’ 84-60 win over No. 15 Swampscott in the first round of the Division 3 North tournament.
Arseneault, the reigning 2-time Cape Ann League Kinney Division Player of the Year, went into the game needing 14 points to crack the mark. After an 9-point opening half, the magic number was down to 6. He got two of them with a put-back after an offensive rebound in the third quarter, then, with 3:13 left in the quarter, converted a 3-point play to stand at 999.
A little more than two minutes later, he sent the standing room only crowd into a frenzy when he was fouled and went to the line for two free throws. Arseneault wasted no time in stepping up to the line, albeit with an ear-to-ear grin, and calmly drained the first one to end the suspense.
“Honestly I had no idea I was even close,” said the 3-year varsity veteran. “Coach pulled me aside about three or four games ago and told me I was at 950 or so, but that was a surprise to me. It was really crazy as I hadn’t ever really thought about it.”
Following the free throw, Arseneault acknowledged the boisterous crowd with a quick wave at midcourt, then it was back to line where he made the second freebie to stretch the Pioneer lead to 64-32.
With a 69-37 lead, Lynnfield (18-3) subbed in its bench to start the fourth quarter. Behind some solid play from freshmen Jahiid Allen Paisley (15 points) and Andrew Augustin (10 points), the Big Blue got the deficit down to 21, 81-60 with under a minute to play but it was too little too late.
Sophomore Clay Marengi and junior Jack Cleary punctuated the evening with a couple of crowd-pleasing plays. After draining a baseline three, Marengi, who stands 6-1, finished off a one-handed dunk that made it 81-56, then Cleary swished a three after a dish from freshman Jack Ford.
Swampscott got off to a strong start and trailed by just three, 17-14 after the opening quarter. The Pioneers went widened the lead to 27-21, then caught fire the rest of the quarter with a 20-0 run to go into halftime with a 47-21 lead.
Senior Matt Mortellite (18 points) and senior captain Zach Shone (game-high 22 points) led the second quarter charge with 11 and 7 points, respectively, while senior Jay Ndansi (13 points) helped out with 5 points in the frame.
“It started out as a competitive game, but we had a difficult stretch there,” said Swampscott coach Justin Fucile. “We weren’t as unselfish as we usually are and they forced a couple of turnovers and we took some bad shots, then we started reaching in the backcourt and that kind of spiraled into a collapse just before the half. Once that happened, that was really the game.
“I was very proud of our seniors who gave it their all tonight, and I was very impressed with the way our younger players played in the third and fourth quarters, especially our two freshmen, Andrew Augustin and Jahiid Allen Paisley, who played phenomenally tonight and they are just going to get better and better.”
Lynnfield coach Scott MacKenzie said the key to the game was movement both on and off the ball.
“We came out and there was a lot of standing around offensively but once we started to push the ball we got points,” he said. “I think Billy was pressing a little and the guys were too, as they wanted him to get his points early. We did too, so he could come out, but it was very special that it happened at the free throw line where he has been amazing. He is just probably the best basketball player I have ever coached, so it was really something for him to do what he did as I don’t care who you are, every basketball player would kill to have that on his resume.”
The win sets up a Saturday night rematch with 2017 North champion Watertown, the No. 7 seed, which advanced to the quarterfinals with a 72-37 win Tuesday night over No. 10 Essex Tech. The Raiders have quickly become one of the Pioneers’ archrivals. They defeated Lynnfield in the semifinals of last year’s tournament, 58-46. More recently, and much more painful, however, was the Raiders’ come-from-behind 38-34 victory in the finals of the Division 5 football playoffs last fall. Trailing 34-31, Watertown scored two touchdowns in the final 75 seconds to bring a shocking end to the Pioneers’ playoff run.
“It seems like everytime you turn around it’s Watertown,” said MacKenzie, who lives in the town. “They took it to us last year, and while they beat us by only eight, it seemed like a lot more than that.
“Their point guard (Julio Fulcar) is phenomenal and just watch, he is one of the few kids who will go 1-on-1 with Billy, and their big guy (John) Korte, I think he is even bigger than he was last year and last year he was 6-4, maybe 6-5, so they will be a challenge. Steve Harrington is a great coach, but if we keep moving and play our game we should be okay, but if we don’t, it won’t be pretty.”