ARLINGTON BLITZES BELMONT FOR 7TH STRAIGHT LEAGUE WIN
Arlington, MA. 1/19/18. Opening the second half with a decisive 16-2 run the Arlington boys basketball team broke away from a halftime tie, then held off a late Belmont surge for a 60 – 51 win Friday night, their seventh straight in Middlesex Liberty League play.
As they’ve done so many times this season, the Spy Ponders came out of the break with ramped up defensive intensity, which, along with their two big men, junior James Gascoigne and senior Ben Wasco, sparked the run.
Gascoigne scored seven of his team high 15 points during the five minute spurt, while Wasco contributed a tip-in, a steal and three fast break igniting rebounds before retiring to the bench with recurring foul trouble.
“That third quarter is the way we want to play for the whole game,” said Arlington coach John Bowler. “We took the game to a pretty high pace, played good defense and made them take some tough shots.”
Belmont’s potent offense, led by dangerous junior point guard Daniel Yardemian, had been averaging over 70 points per game coming into this one, but very few teams play defense with the commitment of Arlington.
The Spy Ponders kept the visitors well below their average and allowed them just six points in that pivotal third quarter.
Bowler commented, “Yardemian and (sophomore guard Mac) Annus had 20 of their 28 in the first half, so we wanted to concentrate on them and make other guys take some shots. I thought we executed that strategy well in the third quarter.”
Indeed, Spy Ponder junior guard Nick Karalis contained Yardemian (eight second half points) while multiple defenders held Annus to just three.
Following Arlington’s dominant 21-6 third quarter, Belmont employed an effective full court trapping press to mount a comeback bid in the fourth inching within six on senior Will Ellet’s three point play with just under two minutes left.
But Arlington successfully slowed things down forcing the Marauders to foul. Karalis hit two big free thows to extend the lead back to eight with :54 left and sophomore Bensley Joseph made four of five in the closing seconds to secure things.
Matters were dicey for the winners in the early going. After scoring five points in the first two minutes, Wasco picked up his second foul and sat for the remainder of the half. A few seconds later the dynamic sophomore scorer Joseph rolled his ankle and joined Wasco on the bench for the remainder of the quarter.
Meanwhile, Yardemian, Ellet and Annus all hit threes for Belmont and Yardemian added several athletic trips to the rim for a 15 – 12 Marauder lead at the end of one.
Joseph returned for the second quarter and with juniors Joey Pazzia (6) and Stephen MacGillivray (2) providing some help off the bench, Arlington pulled even at the half 28-28 to set the stage for their big third quarter.
Senior Dom Black had another huge all around game for Arlington with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Joseph added 12, and Gascoigne contributed five rebounds and three blocked shots to his 15 points.
For the Marauders, Yardemian was the game’s high scorer with 16. Annus and Ellet added 14 and 13 respectively.
Woburn, right behind the Spy Ponders with just one loss in the league, is up next on Sunday at noon in Arlington. “They just beat Winchester by 23,” Bowler said. “They’re playing really well. It should be a good one.”