The Marblehead boys basketball team was in position to come out with a road win on Tuesday night
over Peabody. The Magicians fell short in the closing minutes of the game, as they were defeated by the
Tanners 64-58.
Peabody took an early 4-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, as Marblehead appeared to be a
little uncomfortable in the initial stages of the first quarter. The Magicians settled in after they saw their
first shot drop – a three-pointer make by junior Nick Lemmond. The Magicians seized the momentum
for the final five minutes of the first, finishing the frame on a 18-4 run and holding an 18-8 lead at the
end of the quarter.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Magicians’ senior guard Ty Countrymon had the ball
deflected from him at the top of the key, but retrieved the loose ball and decided to pull up from 30-feet
away, which he swished. Marblehead extended its lead to 11 (21-10) and appeared to be taking control
of the game. Peabody battled back, finishing the quarter outscoring Marblehead 17-12, and trimming
the Magicians’ lead down to five (30-25) at the end of the first half.
It was a case of deja vu to open the second half, this time the Tanners scored the first eight points of
the half and took a 33-30 lead two minutes into the third quarter. The Magicians answered, finishing the
final six minutes of the third on a 17-8 run and holding a 47-41 lead heading into the fourth quarter. An
important sequence that helped propel Marblehead’s run was when Lemmond drove past the top of
Peabody’s zone defense and found Ryan Commoss open underneath for a layup that he finished and
drew a foul. Commoss made the free throw and gave the Magicians the lead back at this point 38-35.
Commoss was a major factor in the third, as he scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the frame.
Commoss also finished the game with a game-high 15 rebounds.
As Marblehead clung to a 47-41 lead, it was a see-saw final quarter. The Magicians went up 56-51
midway through after Countrymon scored on a reverse layup off an offensive rebound. It looked as
though Marblehead was, again, going to take control, but the Tanners kept fighting back as Anthony
Forte finished a reverse layup of his own on the ensuing possession to cut the Marblehead lead to three
(56-53). The Tanners scored the next four points of the frame and took 57-56 lead with just over two
minutes left. On Marblehead’s next offensive possession, Isaiah Makor skied high to corral an offensive
rebound off a missed three-pointer and was fouled in the process. Makor made both clutch free throws
and gave the Magicians the lead back 58-57 with 1:56 left. But with 46.7 seconds left on the clock,
Peabody’s Raphel Laurent drilled a corner three and gave the Tanners the lead for good (60-58).
Marblehead head coach Mike Girardi feels what happened at the end of the game will help his team down the road.
“We lost sight of what we wanted to accomplish at the end of the game,” Girardi said. “We wanted to
force Forte into tough shots, and we became too worried about the outside shot, and they were able to
beat us on some reverse cuts to the basket. There were a couple rebounds we needed to get that we did
not, and we had a couple finishes that didn’t go down for us in the paint. It is one of those things where
we did not play the way we wanted to, and the ball did not bounce our way tonight. You must find a wayto overcome those things, we were not able to tonight, but I feel we will be able to overcome this type of adversity the next time it presents itself.”
Along with Commoss, Makor had an impressive performance for the Magicians, as he also recorded a
double-double (12 points and 13 rebounds). Marblehead record now sits at 5-3, and the Magicians look
to bounce back against Swampscott Friday night.
