BEVERLY — The Bulldogs have their bite back.
Even with senior center Zach Zigelbaum returning to the Beverly boys basketball lineup last night, the Panthers found out Lynn English is very serious about pulling away for the Northeastern Conference North crown.
Keandre Stanton scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the third quarter to help the Bulldogs run away with a 91-69 victory.
English (12-4) can now clinch the outright title with one more win. Beverly (10-7) trails the Bulldogs by two games with two to play.
"I'm not sure of the math yet," Lynn English coach Mike Carr said about his team's path to the title. "I think if we lost two that would give us six losses, which would tie us with them if they won out. I guess we could still fudge it up."
The way they're playing now, it's unlikely the Bulldogs will drop two straight games now.
English smothered Beverly with full-court man-to-man defense and opened an early lead.
The Bulldogs led 20-9 after one quarter, increased it to 14 at the break (38-24), and then Stanton went off to put the game out of reach.
Lynn English started forcing turnovers with trapping and Stanton seemed to become energized. He scored by hitting the offensive glass, in the post and from the perimeter. He knocked down his only three of the game with 1:28 to go in the third for a 60-39 lead, just one possession after throwing down a thunderous dunk.
"I think it starts on defense with him," Beverly coach Scott Lewis said about Stanton. "He's such a great shot blocker that the guys hesitate. We saw that early on; guys would get good looks and they'd just shoot it differently when he's in there. On the other end, he's just so long and athletic when he gets in the open court it's impossible to stop."
After three quarters, the Bulldogs had stretched the lead to 23 points (67-44).
English played with some extra motivation thanks to an early-season loss to Beverly. At the time the Panthers looked to be a serious contender for the North title.
"The kids were self-motivated by that loss. They knew that we came out and didn't play very well in that first game, not taking anything away from what Beverly did to us," Carr said. "They came into our place very focused and we were growing at that point. We're still growing, but we were just having trouble learning our sets and learning our rotations and there was a little bit of in-fighting going on. Eventually we came to this and said, 'This is our second chance.'"
Zigelbaum, who was sidelined for a few weeks after having surgery to remove his appendix, is also getting his second chance.
Although he only scored four points in limited minutes last night, Zigelbaum showed the Panthers will be tough to beat as he gets healthier.
Chris Keaton led Beverly with 14 points and Dom Abate played well, chipping in 13.
English got 19 points from sophomore guard Fred Hogan, while freshman guard Stevie Collins turned in 16.
"They played like they're a better team tonight, for sure," Lewis said. "We got off to such a bad start and that's the worst thing that can happen when you play them because then they can start loosening up and gambling a little more (on defense). That was what I was afraid of tonight."
