RallyNorth.net

Tue, Jan 15, 2008 07:00 PM @ Gloucester

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Salem (MA)	0	36	0	33	69
Gloucester	0	20	0	27	47

Hot-shooting Salem too much for Gloucester

Wednesday, January, 16 By Matt Langone
Sports editor

The Gloucester boys basketball team was hoping to get the second half of their season off to a positive start last night.

The only problem was a white-hot Salem team was standing in the way. The Witches came into the contest playing their best basketball of the season, riding a four-game winning streak.

Now, make that a five-game streak.

Salem rolled past the host Fishermen, 69-47, extending the struggles for Gloucester, which lost its third straight and fell to 2-8 on the season.

"Salem has been playing really well the last three weeks," said Gloucester head coach Todd Simendinger. "It never helps to play the upper-tier games when your not playing well. It's not likely that you'll break out of a slump against a team like Salem."

Especially when the Witches (6-4) shoot like they did last night.

Salem knocked down nine 3-pointers, which were accounted for by the three-guard lineup of Junior Lugo (14 points, two 3-pointers), Bryan Ortiz (14 points, four 3-pointers) and Chris Maxson (15 points, three 3-pointers).

The other two members of the Witches starting five, freshman Antonio Reyes and junior forward Chris Dunston, scored 11 and eight points respectively.

To put that kind of scoring depth in perspective, Gloucester had just one player in double figures. That would be junior Dylan Maki, who netted 10 points.

"We're just not playing particularly well right now," Simendinger added.

After a 4-4 tie to start the game, the Witches went on a 17-2 run to close the first quarter and deflate the Fishermen's hopes of pulling off the upset.

The Salem lead was 36-20 at the half before it ballooned to 62-31 heading into the final quarter. With the game safely under control, Witches head coach Tom Doyle was able to sit his potent starting lineup for the entire fourth.

Despite the lop-sided outcome, Simendinger was pleased with the efforts of his younger players, particularly freshmen Adam Philpott and Chris Unis. Philpott, a left-handed guard, finished with nine points, while Unis also had nine points to go with four rebounds from his forward position.

"Our young guys are playing well," said Simendinger. "It gives us hope that there is a bright future."