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Gloucester goes ice cold in fourth, fall to Tanners

Wednesday, January, 09 By Matt Langone
Staff writer

It obviously wasn't the case, but it still seemed as though neither Gloucester or Peabody really wanted to win last night's boys basketball game at Gloucester High School. For close to 31 minutes of play, both teams couldn't have thrown the ball in the ocean if they were standing in the sand at Good Harbor Beach. The result was a 44-44 tie with 1:12 left in the contest.

The score remained that way until Peabody senior Brian Fleming drained two free throws with 23 seconds left. Gloucester's Dylan Maki then drew a foul on the ensuing Fishermen possession, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with seven seconds remaining, and that would basically shut the door on the Fishermen, who fell to the Tanners 48-44.

"Our half-court offense is starting to look much better," said Gloucester head coach Todd Simendinger. "We got some open looks, but in the end it comes down to how many you can knock in and tonight we didn't shoot good enough to win." Not every Fishermen player struggled, as senior Brian Levie scored a game-high 18 points and drilled four 3-pointers, while junior forward Brian Chianciola added 12 points. But aside from that duo, no Gloucester player tallied more than four points.

Gloucester scored just two points in the final four minutes of the game and only registered five points in the entire fourth quarter.

"Give credit to Peabody," said Simendinger. "They hit shots down the stretch and we didn't."

The game started out promising for the Fishermen, who led 17-9 after the first quarter. During that stretch, senior forward Adam Payzont (four points, five rebounds) crashed the boards to give the Fishermen a big lift.

Gloucester's quality play continued into the second quarter until the final two minutes of the half, when Peabody use a 9-0 run to take the lead over the Fishermen and ultimately remain just a point behind Gloucester at the break, 24-23. "The issue for us comes down to being able to consistently execute," said Simendinger. "In the first quarter we executed perfectly, but in the second quarter we didn't. We're not good enough to beat teams on-on-one. If we don't execute, we won't win."

The third quarter was much like the first for the Fishermen, as they were once again able to run an efficient offense and create some turnovers. They took a 39-35 advantage into the final frame before being victimized by that dreadful fourth quarter.

Trevor Adkins and Maki also had four points for Gloucester. Meanwhile, Peabody was led by senior Kevin Skop's 16 points and 11 points from Marc Linehan.