SPY PONDER "D" STIFLES TANNERS 68-54
Arlington, MA. 1/21/18. If there was such a thing as an All Pest Team, Arlington’s senior Dom Black and junior Nick Karalis would be unanimous selections.
Black spent Sunday afternoon in Matt Juko’s shirt holding the senior Woburn stand out scoreless in the first half and to just eight points for the game.
Karalis was relentless in his pestering of exciting point guard, Isaiah Cashwell-Doe allowing the Woburn catalyst only two second half points.
On a day when these two and their Spy Ponder mates applied their usual defensive suffocation, they brought along some offense as well in an impressive 68-54 home win over the highly regarded Tanners.
Arlington mentor John Bowler commended his defense. “Black did a great job on Juko. Juko’s a returning league all-star, but Dom is just so versatile. He’s like an NFL shut-down cornerback. When I assign him to somebody I know that player’s not going to hurt us.”
And Karalis? “He is just relentless,” Bowler observed. “When he’s on you, you have to worry about protecting the next dribble not about setting up your offense.”
Continuing his season long productive play, Black recorded his second straight double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds along with four blocked shots, two of them of the thunderous, momentum changing variety.
The outcome was decided by a 14-2 Arlington run in the last 2:30 of the third quarter. The run was ignited by a Karalis three from the right elbow and extended the Spy Ponder’s 31-26 halftime lead to 56-39 at the end of the third, a 25-point quarter for the victors.
Stopping Arlington’s balanced offense at its ball sharing best–as it was on Sunday–is like playing whack-a-mole. Stop one of them, and another one pops up to score. Sunday’s effort resulted in four players in double figures; Black’s 18, junior James Gascoigne had 15 with six rebounds, sophomore Bensley Joseph 14 with five boards and senior Ben Wasco 10 with his final points coming on a breakaway dunk at game end.
In an effort to bring Woburn back, the Stakowski brothers Austin and Brett hit four threes in the final quarter (2 each). Austin led all scorers with 19.
Cashwell-Doe with 13 first half points accounted for half of the Tanner’s total at the break and finished with 15. Juko scored all of his eight points in a four-minute outburst to start the second half.
With the win Arlington, at 8-0 in the league, created some breathing room ahead of Woburn at 7-2 and Belmont at 5-2. Wakefield, 4-4 in the Middlesex Freedom division, visits the Spy Ponders Tuesday night at 6.