For a moment Friday night, previous opponents of Marblehead’s boys basketball team must have been thinking, ‘Here we go again,’ harkening back to the Magicians’ Elite 8 run a winter ago.
And for three quarters, it looked like déjà vu with No. 2 Leominster leading No. 34 Marblehead just 54-53.
But in the end, the host Blue Devils caught fire in the fourth, catapulting them to a 78-58 victory in the Division 2 Round of 32.
“Unfortunately, we ran out of gas in the fourth,” said Marblehead coach Mike Giardi. “We were down one after three quarters, but only scored five points in the fourth. They got hot, scoring 24.”
Nick Lemmond led the Magicians with 26 points, followed by Ryan Commoss (16) and Scott Campbell (15).
“The kids played hard, but just couldn’t sustain it after an overtime game the other night,” said Giardi, whose side defeated No. 31 Melrose, 64-61, in the aforementioned preliminary round.
Marblehead finished the season 14-8, while Leominster, 18-3, advanced to the Sweet 16 against No. 15 Scituate.