BLACK, JOSEPH LEAD ARLINGTON OVER MELROSE 53-45
Arlington, MA. 12/19/17. With both of their big men unavailable for most of the second half, the Arlington boys basketball team had to rely on senior co-captain Dom Black and super soph Bensley Joseph to preserve Tuesday night’s 53-45 win over Melrose, the Spy Ponders remarkable 35th straight home victory.
The game seemed to be well in hand with Arlington enjoying leads of up to 17 points at various stages but Junior co-captain James Gascoigne went out late in the first half with a nose injury and did not return. Then senior co-captain Ben Wasco had to sit with his fourth foul early in the second.
Melrose capitalized and behind the shooting of senior co-captain Joseph Stanton (14) and sophomore forward Luka Vlajkovic (13) chipped away at the Spy Ponder lead reducing it to a mere 47-42 at the two minute mark on a nifty high post feed from Vlajkovic to a cutting senior Anthony Colozzo for the lay-in.
Enter Black and Joseph. With 1:30 left Black soared for a huge rebound in traffic to start a key Spy Ponder possession. Joseph finished it with a twisting layup off a baseline drive to put Arlington back up 7 with 1:14 left.
Thirty seconds later Colozzo appeared to have a break-away lay-up, but Black came out of nowhere to meet him above the rim and swat it away, his third thunderous block of the night, to dramatically shut the door on the Red Raider comeback.
About Black’s block Arlington coach John Bowler said, “That was incredible. He never gave up on the play and tracked it down. He gives us so much. We count on him to do a lot. He always delivers.”
Still, it was a bit surprising that the Spy Ponders found themselves in a tight position. Their defense was stifling again early as they led 13-1 at the end of the first quarter and 27 – 10 at the half.
“We learned a lesson tonight,” a subdued Bowler reflected. “We’ve got to finish teams off. We had them down 17 and gave them life. They got some confidence and came back. We’re lucky we learned that lesson and didn’t have to lose a game in the process.”
Joseph was spectacular offensively with an array of long distance threes, stop and pop mid-range jumpers, and acrobatic driving lay-ups.
“Bensley’s a unique talent,” Bowler said. He had 25 tonight, and I don’t think he played very well. This is just the tip of iceberg for him.”
In addition to his three loud blocks, Black had a do-everything night with 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 12 points, 8 of which came in the final quarter when the Spy Ponders needed them the most.
Gascoigne contributed 7 in his limited time.
Thursday night at 6 Arlington visits Watertown in a game where “we’ll have to play a lot better than we did tonight,” according to Bowler. Watertown returns several key players from their Division 3 North championship squad eager to avenge last year’s loss at Arlington.