ARLINGTON CELEBRATES WITH OPENING WIN IN HOLIDAY HOOP CLASSIC
Somerville, MA. 12/27/17. Shaking off a bad case of the holiday cobwebs with a torrid 52 point second half, the Arlington boys basketball team erased an early 12 point deficit to overtake Somerville in overtime 73 – 65 in the of the Somerville Hoop Classic Wednesday afternoon.
Co-captains senior Dom Black and junior forward James Gascoigne led the way for the Spy Ponders.
Black notched 18 of his game high 24 points in the fourth quarter and overtime going three for three on three pointers and burying two clutch free throws with four seconds left in regulation for a 61 – 58 lead.
His trey with :40 left in overtime put the Spy Ponders up 69 – 63 forcing the Highlanders to foul. Black and sophomore Bensley Joseph (11) made all four Arlington free throws to seal the win as they outscored Somerville 12 – 4 in the extra session.
Gascoigne (23) carried Arlington early scoring 12 of their 21 first half points, and contributed a critical put-back off a missed free throw, to put the Spy Ponders up 59-55 with :30 left in regulation.
Following Gascoigne’s heroics, the Highlanders refused to go quietly. Junior guard Jiovanny Pierre buried a three from the left elbow to bring Somerville within one at 59 – 58 with eight seconds left.
Then after Black’s free throws made it 61 – 58, sophomore guard Tyler Whitney-Sydney banked in a most unlikely heave from well beyond NBA range at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
Senior guard Lucas Saint-Jean and Whitney-Sydney paced Somerville with 17 points each while junior swing-man Jim McEwen added 14.
Arlington will face defending Division 1 South champions Franklin in today's final at 5pm. Franklin easily disposed of Malden Catholic in the other preliminary match-up yesterday.