READING HANGS TOUGH BUT ARLINGTON PREVAILS 60-52
Arlington, MA. 2/2/18. Denizens of the basement in the Middlesex Liberty Division it is dangerously easy to overlook the Reading High basketball team. The underrated Rockets brought a sticky zone defense to Arlington Friday night, mixed it with a 3/4 court zone press to slow things way down and threw a scare at the first place Spy Ponders before finally succumbing 60 – 52.
Spy Ponder coach John Bowler did not take the Rockets lightly. “They’d won three of their last four coming into this game,” he said. “23 (junior Nick Panacopoulos) shot the ball incredibly well, which was no surprise. They played hard. Played well. They were the last team to beat us here (41 games ago). We were lucky to keep the streak going.”
Most of their opponents elect not to challenge Arlington with a man-to-man as any one of the Spy Ponder starters is capable of erupting on any given night.
But a zone can be a pick your poison proposition as well. Focus on Arlington’s outside shooters senior Dom Black, sophomore Bensley Joseph and junior Nick Karalis and James Gascoigne or senior Ben Wasco can kill you underneath.
That was the case Friday night. The Rockets’ zone did a decent job of containing Black (15) and Joseph (17, only four in the second half) on the outside, but junior forward Gascoigne feasted on the zone’s soft underbelly along the baseline with 20 points on lay ups and short range jumpers.
Still, the key for Arlington was the same as it’s been all season. Defensive pressure. With Reading hanging close at 46-45 to open the final stanza, the Spy Ponders found another gear and held the Rockets to a mere seven fourth quarter points while Black and Gascoigne countered with 12, six each, to secure the win.
As usual Karalis was the lead defensive pest, creating turnovers, taking a charge on Reading's last gasp possession and holding down Rocket point guard junior Josh Williamson to one point in the quarter; three for the game.
“We’re lucky we had Nick Karalis on our team tonight,” said Bowler. “He hit a big 3 to break that third quarter tie. He took a key charge towards the end. His defense saved us tonight.”
Both teams were clicking in the first quarter. The frisky Rockets arrived ready for lift off hitting seven of their first 10 tries. Arlington kept pace making nine of 13 shots, but all it got them was a 21 -18 lead at the end of one.
Things stayed tight into the third quarter when Karalis’ three broke a 36-36 tie and started a 9-3 Arlington run, six of which came from Gascoigne operating on the baseline.
But the Spy Ponders finished the quarter with six straight empty possessions. Two misses and four head scratching turnovers allowed Reading to close out the quarter just a point behind at 46-45 and established the need for Arlington’s defensively dominant fourth quarter.
Bowler, while happy to have the win, was not celebrating. “We turned it over way too much (13 times). We had a lane violation. We played soft. We didn’t execute well on offense. We missed foul shots (only 13 of 22). It wasn’t a pleasant game.”
Still, his team defended well, wearing down the visitors with 13 steals, four turnovers and three forced time-outs caused by his defense, each one creating bedlam from the home fans.
Panacopoulos led the Rockets with 20 points, 12 of them from beyond the arc. Senior Alec Gibbs added 10.
A trip to third place Woburn on Tuesday night is next up for the Spy Ponders, where, Bowler warned, “we’ll be in trouble if we play like we did tonight.”