The photo that Beverly High School Director of Athletics James Coffey released into the Twitter-verse late Friday night summed up what was a wild night of North Shore boys basketball.
Coffey's tweet, "Boys hoop waiting to hear word on English/Classical," was accompanied by a photo of the Beverly boys team sitting together at center court of the Henry Cabot Lodge Fieldhouse. Most of the Panthers were dressed in their black-and-orange warmup suits — and all of them were trying to relax in an anxious moment.
Earlier that night, Beverly had done its job. The Panthers defeated Salem, 60-54, and if Lynn Classical could find a way to beat Lynn English, then Beverly would grab a share of the Northeastern Conference North title.
Moments after Coffey took the photo, the score everyone was waiting to hear popped up on Twitter: Lynn Classical 74, Lynn English 71 in overtime.
Beverly was just one of three championship stories on that busy night. Here's a look at how it all unfolded.
Unexpected but well-deserved
Has Hamilton-Wenham officially reached the "they just reload" status? It may be a bit premature, but the Generals' latest title — their third straight Cape Ann League Division 2 crown — certainly sends them in that direction.
Hamilton-Wenham beat Ipswich by 16 points (70-54) at home to seal up a title that the Generals weren't favorites to win at the beginning of the season.
The last two crowns H-W captured were with a veteran crew. This season, mostly due to injury, the Generals were a very inexperienced group.
Senior point guard Stephen Tam, the reigning CAL Div. 2 Player of the Year, set the pace for his team early on by running the offense, playing exceptional defense and scoring more than normal until his young and inexperienced teammates could get up to speed. When senior shooting guard Jake Lindland returned from injury, the Generals started playing much closer to full strength.
"I'm really proud of the job they did. I'm really proud of what they accomplished under a little bit of duress," H-W coach Doug Hoak said Friday night. "We lost Lindland before the season started, and that left us with Tam as the only experienced player on the floor. Our next most experienced player was Luke Drieze, and we lost him after the third game of the season. We had some kids that had to grow up fast."
Freshmen Jimmy Campbell and James Foye found themselves in contributing roles. Senior forward Shane Jenkins, who missed the last two years with injuries, started getting big minutes. And seniors Ryan Beckett and Ryan Willis developed into key players.
What Hoak has now is a deep, dangerous team heading into the Division 3 North tournament.
A quick rise to glory
Danvers felt like it had let one slip away last Monday. The Falcons had an opportunity to take control of the NEC South title chase with perennial league power Winthrop in town, but for the second time this season the visiting Vikings edged their counterparts by a point.
The Falcons, while disappointed, were not mathematically eliminated with the loss. If Danvers defeated Gloucester in its league finale and Saugus upset Winthrop, then the Falcons would earn a share of the crown.
Naturally, adding another twist to what has been a roller-coaster season in the NEC, that's exactly how it played out as Danvers picked up its first league crown since 1975.
"It's going to be nice to put (a banner) up that says 2012 co-champs — or champs — and it means something to the kids," Danvers coach John Walsh said. "They can look back on it and say they were part of that team."
Danvers, now 16-3 with one game to go against Boston Latin (Thursday), established itself as one of the league's best teams early thanks to the performance of returning players Eric Martin, George Merry, Jon Amico and Nick Bates. St. John's Prep transfer Nick McKenna also played a huge role, and junior forward Dan Connors picked up his play late in the season.
The work this team did will only help the Danvers program going forward.
"People can look to it as a source of pride," said Walsh, who is only in his second year at the helm. "We are accomplishing something in basketball, and maybe kids will want to be a part of it."
A February frenzy
It was too early to be considered March Madness, but the scene in the Henry Cabot Lodge Fieldhouse certainly felt that way. Like a bubble team waiting to find out if it's getting an invitation to the Big Dance, Beverly waited for what it hoped would be good news.
There was the Twitter photo (which, as it turns out, was taken by Beverly head coach Scott Lewis), and one of the Panther players also had a video camera going when Lewis announced the score of the Lynn Classical victory.
"The way it happened was amazing. We had beat Salem and didn't even think about the title until we were on the bus ride home. That's when we heard English had won by one point," Lewis recalled. "At that point, we started regretting the games that slipped away. Then we found out that was actually the girls' (Classical) score.
"When we got back to the high school, the (Classical boys) game was still going on and James Coffey was on the phone with Classical's AD and he was giving us the scores. We all went into the high school and were just sitting on the court, waiting."
The title was only the second Beverly has won under Lewis, who is now in his eighth year. The Panthers were co-champs of the NEC South in his second season, and he thought the Panthers had a good chance to grab onto another one this year.
About a month ago, that outlook started to slip away when senior center Zach Zigelbaum had an appendectomy and missed seven games.
Without Zigelbaum, the Panthers leaned on Chris Keaton, Aven Jones, Cam Rogers and Ty Suggs. Dom Abate played some of his best basketball down the stretch for Beverly (13-7), and John Berchoff emerged as an excellent bench player.
"We just tried to keep our heads above water," Lewis said. "We got a lot of help from other teams in the league (that beat) English.
"The wind went out of our sails a little bit when we heard about Zach, but then we beat Saugus that night handily and got a boost of confidence. We had our ups and downs and couldn't compete with the elite teams without Zach, but having depth was a good thing. We might have the most depth in the league."
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In the Paint, a column on North Shore boys basketball, runs every Tuesday during the winter sports season in The Salem News. Contact staff writer Matt Jenkins at 978-338-2648 or by email at mjenkins@salemnews.com.
Five For Thought ...
The regular season is coming to an end this week and the tournament pairings will be released Friday morning. It's time to take a look at the teams in the best shape heading into the postseason.
1. Danvers — The Falcons, with a win over Boston Latin on Thursday, could go into the tournament with 17 wins. Even if they lose, they're locked into the Division 3 North No. 2 seed and have to be on the short list of favorites in the sectional.
2. Marblehead — They're not even in yet, but the Magicians, who need to win one of their final two games to qualify, are arguably the hottest team in the area. Wins over Danvers and Lynn English down the stretch have been a big confidence boost for a club that will be scary in Division 2 North.
3. Beverly — Zach Zigelbaum is getting healthier, and the Panthers do have a lot of depth and balance. They'll be a tough out in Division 2 North.
4. St. John's Prep — A year ago, the Eagles were the team to beat. This postseason, even though they're no longer a favorite in Division 1 North, they'll be the team nobody feels comfortable playing.
5. Masconomet — A first-round meeting with Beverly is not out of the question in Division 2 North. The guard play of Adam Bramanti and Alex Brown is outstanding for the Chieftains.
