A strong third quarter surge proved pivotal as the Somerville High boys basketball team silenced Medford, 67-57, Jan. 11, in the Greater Boston League opener.
The loss dropped Medford to 6-2 overall in the league standings.
Somerville held a five-point lead at halftime, before going on a crippling 9-0 run in the third stanza, essentially putting the game away.
Medford’s Sean Doncaster, Jonathon Pires and James Hawkins, all got into foul trouble early in the second half. Each of them picked up three, forcing them to spend some time on the bench. Despite those setbacks, the Mustangs still hung tough.
“I thought Ryan Covelle did a really good job for us at the point guard with our guys in foul trouble on the bench,” Medford Coach Anthony Faradie said. “We actually were able to keep the score close until the last minute and half in the third quarter.”
Somerville ended up going on a 9-0 run to end the third quarter, with Medford trailing by 11 points.
The Mustangs fought back in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to three points, but Somerville kept answering back with three-point shots.
“They really hit some big time shots and they were tough contested shots,” Faradie said.
Somerville senior forward John Lubin netted a game-high 27 points.
”Lubin was really tough,” Faradie said. “He did damage inside and outside against us and I thought we played pretty well defensively on him. He just made plays.”
Sean Doncaster was Medford’s high scorer with 21 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter. Medford also went 19-for-29 from the free throw line, compared to Somerville’s 8-for-18.
“I think we usually shoot better than that,” Faradie said. “I thought our guys played pretty hard. Somerville just made more shots then we did and just shot the ball a lot better.”
“I thought we won the battle of getting to the free throw line,” he added. “We were able to draw five offensive fouls in the game, but we lost the rebounding battle and that really hurt us to give up second and third chance opportunities.
Medford gets back to work as they travel to Concord Carlisle, Monday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.