After press time: North Reading falls to Lynnfield 60-51 (Feb 1)
North Reading falls to Rockport 64-46 (Feb. 5)
NORTH READING — The NRHS boys’ basketball team improved to 5-8 with back-to-back wins over Pioneer Charter on Thursday and Triton on Friday.
The Hornets traveled to Everett for a non-league game against Pioneer Charter and held onto a two-point lead going into the 4th to win it, 54-47.
North Reading took an early 6-0 lead behind two 3-pointers from sophomore Jason Berry, who finished with a career-high 26 points in this one. The Hornets raced to a 16-5 lead after one.
Berry kept up his torrid pace in the 2nd, hitting two more triples but the Hornets found themselves in foul trouble and were forced to sit two starters. Pioneer Charter hung around as the Hornets took a 30-20 lead into halftime.
The 3rd quarter was a disastrous one for the Green and Gold as offensively, they went ice cold from the field while porous defense allowed the Panthers to score 18 points in the frame.
It was nip and tuck throughout the 4th as the Hornets tried to maintain their lead.
Once again, it was Berry who carried the offense in the 4th, scoring 7 in the quarter including 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He was aided by sophomore Gavin Wesley (9 pts) who grabbed a big rebound down the stretch and also hit 3-of-4 foul shots over the game’s last two minutes, allowing NR to hold on for the win.
The Hornets hosted Triton the next night and were still in rhythm from their victory a few hours earlier, scoring 20 points in the first quarter to stake themselves to an early advantage and a 33-19 lead at halftime.
The strong first quarter included balanced scoring from Berry (8 pts), Wesley (4 pts), junior Parker Griffin (4 pts), junior Andrew Taylor (2 pts) and junior Matt Myette (2 pts).
“It was more of our defensive effort that helped us score,” said head coach Joe Casey who pointed out the tough work on the defensive end, especially from Taylor who had multiple steals and rebounds that led to easy transition points for Wesley and Myette.
“There was nothing flashy about the second half but we got great efforts defensively from a lot of guys,” said Casey. “When our offense slowed down a bit, it was our defense that kept Triton at bay, limiting them to one shot a possession.”
The Hornets couldn’t completely shake the Vikings in the 4th but hoops from Wesley and Myette put any thoughts of a Triton comeback to rest.
Berry, Wesley and Myette each finished with 12 points to lead the Hornets.
“It was easily our best effort of the year on both ends of the floor,” said Casey whose team avenged a 54-48 loss to Triton on Dec. 15.
The Hornets fell to 5-9 with a 69-45 road loss to Ipswich on Monday. North Reading missed their first 10 shots as they chased the game throughout and could never recover, down 22 at the half.
“We shot the ball poorly and didn’t have the effort on the defensive end to overcome that,” said Casey. “We got ourselves into too big of a hole and couldn’t climb out.”
The Hornets will host Lynnfield tonight, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. Lynnfield beat North Reading 56-37 in the first game.