By Daniel Kane
SAUGUS — Despite a career-high 32-point performance from junior Christian Correia, the Saugus boys basketball team fell just short in a 57-54 loss to Somerville at John W. Towers Gymnasium Thursday night.
“Christian had a monster game,” Saugus coach Mark Bertrand said. “He has just been on fire. He’s been carrying this team defensively and offensively. He’s a captain as a junior and I have nothing but great things to say about him. He’s been everything I’ve asked him to be.
“I can’t say enough about the effort tonight,” Bertrand added. “These kids put it all out on the line tonight. I was really proud of these guys. I just told them, ‘I’ll take you guys anywhere.’ They played their hearts out. A couple plays here or there go our way and who knows. It just didn’t happen tonight.”
After trailing by seven at the half, the Sachems clawed back into the game to tie things up in the fourth quarter. Both teams went back-and-forth before Somerville’s Marcos Montiel (22 points) hit a deep game-winning 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
“It was a great high school game and it was great to be a part of,” Bertrand said. “A great atmosphere, a tournament atmosphere that you want to be in. We all just have to get better from this. We as coaches have to get better, the players have to get better and we have to learn from it.”
Correia got off to a fast start, scoring nine points to help Saugus go ahead 14-11 after the first quarter.
Somerville’s shooting game hit its stride in the second quarter. James McEwen (eight points) added an early three to get the Highlanders going and then Montiel took over. The freshman hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, including a buzzer beater on the final possession of the half to put Somerville ahead 33-26.
“We told our guys that they were still right there in it,” Bertrand said. “One of our biggest things we talk about is the first three minutes of the second half. You have to set the tone and I think that we did that with a couple quick turnovers and quick hoops.”
The Sachems did just that and bounced back in the third quarter. Correia added another nine points in the third, but most importantly the Sachems tightened up on defense to slow down Somerville’s shooters.
“I thought our guards did a really good job and adjusted,” Bertrand said. “Joseph Lusso (nine points) up top did a nice job and our wings got out. Kenny Okoye (seven points), we had him move up and protect the middle with Christian. We made nice adjustments, switched our zone around a bit and tried to force them into bad shots.”
Both teams headed into the fourth quarter tied at 41-41. From there both offenses went back-and-forth leading to a 51-51 game with two minutes to go. Correia scored the next basket and the Sachems forced a turnover to go ahead by three. But McEwen hit a key 3-pointer for the Highlanders to tie things up at 54-54.
The Sachems turned the ball over on a travel on their next possession to set up Montiel’s game-winning three on the Highlanders last possession with 1.5 seconds to go.
“We are right there,” Bertrand said. “You have to give credit to Somerville, they hit two clutch back-to-back threes but we played hard. We executed how we had to, and like I said I couldn’t be any prouder. For this young team to get the win the other night and to come back with no letdown tonight, we are really starting to find our stride.”
Saugus (2-12) will be back on the court Tuesday (7) on the road against Malden.
“I told them, ‘We’re on to Malden,'” Bertrand said. “You just have to move on from this. We will start looking at film, we will make our adjustments and have a couple of great days of practice. It’ll probably be a tough night sleeping, I’ll probably have a tough night sleeping but that’s what happens when you’re a young team. We’re just on to Malden.”
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GIRLS BASKETBALL
Saugus 64, Somerville 33
The Sachems had 12 players score in a convincing road win Thursday night. DJ Munafo had five points, while Fallon Millerick, Haley McLaughlin and April Aldred all played well.
Saugus (9-7) will go for its tournament-clinching 10th win Tuesday against Malden.