Published February 6, 2020
By DAN NUNN
NORTH READING — The NRHS boys’ basketball team won its third game in a row with a solid 64-50 road victory over the Rockport Vikings on Jan. 28.
Sophomore Cody Cannalonga led three Hornets in double figures with 20 points. Senior captain Jack Keller had 13 points and senior Greg Demetri added 11 points.
Behind a balanced scoring attack, North Reading came out of the gates on fire and it looked like a blowout was on as they held a massive 34-9 lead early in the second quarter. Sloppy defense allowed Rockport to roar back with a big 30-11 scoring run that bridged the second and third periods.
By the start of the fourth, the NRHS advantage was down to 45-39. Luckily, Keller dominated the final period with nine points to give the Hornets the important victory.
2nd-half surge fuels win over Lynnfield
The red-hot Hornets won their fourth straight game by double digits on Friday at home with a huge 58-41 victory over the Lynnfield Pioneers. Jack Keller scored a game-high 18 points and Cody Cannalonga contributed 13 points.
Keller carried NRHS in the opening quarter. He scored seven of the team’s 11 points and the Hornet lead was 11-8 after one. The advantage ballooned to nine in the second stanza.
The Pioneers closed the quarter on a 6-0 scoring spurt to cut the score to 24-21 by halftime.
Lynnfield continued to hang around in the third quarter and was within five at 39-34 with about one minute left. From that point until the three-minute mark of the fourth, North Reading exploded on an enormous scoring run. They outscored the Pioneers 16-1 and ran them right out of the gym.
With the win, the Hornets were tied for second in the CAL Kinney division with Triton, which is also 6-6 in league play. Newburyport is in first place at 11-1.
North Reading hosted Hamilton-Wenham (9-3) on Tuesday night after press time. The Hornets host Masconomet (3-9) on Friday night at 7 p.m.