YARDEMIAN, BELMONT CELEBRATE IN WIN OVER ARLINGTON
Belmont, MA. 1/11/19. In the first game of the season with title implications, the host Belmont High boys basketball squad sent a message to the rest of the Middlesex league last night with a convincing 77-54 wire to wire win over second place and defending champion Arlington.
It was an eventful night for the highly ranked Marauders.
They got some sweet revenge on an Arlington team that has had their number over recent years, stretched their league unbeaten streak to seven and pulled a full two games ahead of the Spy Ponders and Lexington in the Middlesex Liberty division.
And they staged an impromptu celebration to honor senior co-captain Danny Yardemian whose transition lay-up off a steal and feed from senior co-captain Ben Sseruwagi just before the halftime buzzer got him 18 points in the half—on his way to a game high 27—and a landmark 1000 points for his high school career.
“Can’t say enough about Danny,” said his coach Adam Pritchard adding, “without question there is no other player I’ve ever coached who has outworked him.”
Arlington arrived with hopes of climbing into a first place tie with Belmont, but they were dashed early as the Marauders jumped out to an immediate 7-1 lead that grew to 35-22 at halftime behind Yardemian’s 13 point second quarter that ended with his milestone.
The Spy Ponders made a brief run to close within 11 at 5:52 of the third quarter after a reverse layup by senior guard Ilan Saenz-Grant and a short lane jumper from sophomore point guard Brendan McNamara, but it proved only to set the stage for the Marauder’s Mac Annus.
The slim junior guard followed McNamara’s hoop with a back door cut and converted a nifty mid-post bounce pass from senior co-captain Dan Seriderian. It was the first two of 13 straight points for Annus, a spree that took just two and half minutes, but extended the lead to 18 points and essentially extinguished any hopes of a first place tie for Arlington.
About Annus, who finished with 20 points, Pritchard said simply, “He can shoot,” then smiled. “We have lots of weapons.”
Although Arlington was well prepared for Belmont’s vaunted full court zone trap and handled it easily, it was a different story once they passed the mid-court line. The Marauders were swarming in their defensive end holding Arlington to 35 percent shooting and their big point producers McNamara and senior co-captain James Gascoigne well below their averages.
Gascoigne, the Spy Ponders returning league all-star, was routinely double and triple teamed whenever he got the ball low and managed just five points, while McNamara had few open looks on his way to a 10 point evening.
Asked for his thoughts on why what shaped up as a battle for first place became a runaway, Pritchard said, “Well, we’re at home where we usually play well, and we played well tonight. They do a great job over there. I’m sure they’d say that they’ve played a lot better in other games, so I think it was a combination of those two things.”
Sophomore guard Tim Minicozzi chipped in with 13 for Belmont.
Senior forward Jhalani Joshua had 10 for the Spy Ponders, and senior co-captain Sam Swift added eight.
Arlington gets another shot at Belmont on the Spy Ponders home floor on February 12 at 5:30.
Belmont is at home against Watertown and Arlington hosts Wilmington next Tuesday at 6pm.