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Warning shot! Beau's late three snaps Salem string

Tuesday, January, 06 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

SALEM, N.H. - If Beau Cassidy has his way the Pinkerton Academy senior will hit bigger shots on bigger floors in bigger games before this season is done.

None will ring quite as loudly, though, at least to the competition.

With one perfect baseline 3-point stroke from about 20 feet away, Cassidy announced the Astros' presence on the Class L scene with authority. The Eagle-Tribune All-Star guard's triple cracked a 60-60 tie with 3.2 seconds left, ultimately knocking off two-time defending state champ Salem on its home floor, 63-60.

"It's big, because I can tell you that the guys in my class haven't beaten Salem at any level since middle school," said Cassidy, whose game-winner stunned the home folks, ending Salem's run of 33 straight victories in Class L play. "It's a statement, but that's it. We're looking to do a lot more. Beating Salem in the second game of the (Class L) season was not the goal for the year."

 Cassidy got one of the few clean looks he had all night at the most opportune time for Pinkerton, which led by seven in the first half but was all but lifeless, down 45-34 midway through the third.

"Finally, I was open," said Cassidy, who got the elbow room when point guard Colby Verge drove the lane, drawing the defense, and kicked it out.

"Mikey (Kimball) had been in my face all night long, but Colby drove and they had to collapse on him."

Salem, had one final chance in the fateful fourth which saw seven lead changes and three ties alone. But Alex LaRosa's 35-foot heave to tie bounced off the rim and out, sending the Devils, coming off two straight Christmas Tourney losses, to another defeat.

Cassidy paced four Astros in double figures with a game-high 17 points. Zach Mathieu tossed in a dozen, and Alex Rees had 11. Ben Proulx, shackled by foul trouble and logging just under 15 minutes of playing time, was huge when it counted, dumping in all his 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Kimball netted 16 in a losing cause for Salem, which is just 2-3 on the year and 1-1 in Class L. LaRosa drained four threes for his 12 points, and Mark Adamson also had 12.

"Beau hit a big shot," said Salem coach E.J. Perry. "Our gameplan was to not to let him get the ball at all,and he had five threes. That was big.
"Losing three (in a row) is something (four-year varsity players) Kimball and Jones haven't gone through. We never want to go through it, but you just have to pick yourselves up and move on. I thought we learned a lot tonight, too."

By the Numbers

1,026 - Current career point total for Salem High senior Josh Jones, who netted seven points in last night's 63-60 loss to Pinkerton Academy.
Jones, a four-year varsity player, actually surpassed the 1,000-point plateau in the semifinals of the recently completed Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament vs. Andover.
The reigning Eagle-Tribune Super Teamer joins some pretty elite company in the Salem 1,000-point club, names like Kevin Poole, Chris Urquhart, Nate Stanton and most recently Stephen Savage.
"He's the staple of our program," said Devils coach E.J. Perry. "He's the one who helped solidify the last two years and the titles. This year, he's starting to realize he has to be more than just a scorer for us. Now we need him to seize this moment, not panic and get us to the next level."

33 - The Salem Class L boys hoop win streak that was snapped by Pinkerton last night. Pinkerton's previous Class L loss back in late January of 2007 to Spaulding.

3 - Salem's current losing streak, with the first two defeats coming in the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney to Andover and Lawrence.

1,472 - Days between three-game losing streaks for the Salem High boys hoop program, which hadn't dropped three in a row since opening the 2004 season with losses to Merrimack, B.G. and Lawrence (Ma.) High.