RallyNorth.net

Sat, Mar 01, 2008 07:00 PM @ Marblehead

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game
Wakefield	14	12	15	9	50
Marblehead	17	9	10	7	43

Top-seeded Marblehead boys basketball team falls

Saturday, March, 01 By Mike Grenier
Staff writer

MARBLEHEAD | Marblehead High's boys basketball team made a living with its suffocating defense this season. But it expired in the Division 2 North Tournament due to its lack of offense.

The top-seeded Magicians were about as sound as they've been all season against Wakefield, but they were held under double digits in two of the four quarters in a 50-43 loss before a near capacity crowd here Saturday night.

Although Marblehead (16-5) was the favorite on paper, Wakefield's victory didn't have the look or the feel of an upset. The visitors (12-9) carried the play in the second half, took a 41-36 lead into the fourth quarter and snuffed out Marblehead's final opportunity when the fiery Nick Serino (15 points) came up with a gigantic steal and took it the distance for a layup that gave Wakefield a 48-43 edge with 45 seconds left.

"We did some good things," said Marblehead coach Wayne Hanscom, whose team went into the game allowing just 45.9 points per game. "We were down nine (41-32) and came back (to make it 41-40).

"But it was a bad mistake on our part at the end," he added. "Serino is a really good, wily guard. He anticipates really well and he was reading that play and made the steal."

Serino put the icing on the cake by draining two foul shots with 9.6 seconds left, making it 50-43.

Marblehead fought an uphill battle all night. Its best stretch on offense came in the opening period, when it grabbed a 17-14 lead. However, the Magicians scored just nine points in the second quarter and seven in the fourth. No matter how sturdy your defense, you're not going to beat quality competition in the postseason by scoring 16 points in 16 minutes.

Senior center Damola Abu, who took a physical pounding inside but hung tough despite being in foul trouble himself, led Marblehead with 12 points and was the team's lone double digit scorer. Sophomore Taariq Allen chipped in nine, Ian McKinley had eight and Tom Powers added six.

Wakefield's main 3-point threat, Jared Ioshua, collected nine points and some people were wondering why the Magicians didn't throw a gimmick defense at him, but Ioshua didn't beat Marblehead. The Magicians identified the energetic and intelligent Serino as the key operative and decided to go with a box-and-one against him in the second half.

"We did that," said Marblehead assistant coach Dave Pliner, "because their whole offense is run through Serino."

Wakefield coach Brad Simpson readily admitted the move confused his team to a certain degree.

"We've seen a box-and-one on Jared (Ioshua) and we've seen a triangle-and-two (against Ioshua and Serino), but we've never seen a box-and-one strictly on Serino," said Wakefield coach Brad Simpson. "It kind of threw us off our game."

Nevertheless, Marblehead couldn't capitalize because of its erratic offense. The Magicians went more than five minutes without scoring a basket in the second quarter until Allen deposited an offensive rebound with 2:25 left in the half. They had a similar dry spell in the fourth quarter and compounded the problem by shooting just 50 percent (8 for 16) from the foul line for the game.

"We do struggle on offense," said Hanscom. "The free throws? It's a close game. You've got to make those."

Despite all the problems, Marblehead gave itself a chance to win it down the stretch. Allen's putback sliced the Warriors lead to 41-38 early in the fourth and Abu scored the next basket to make it 41-40.

Ioshua responded with a 3-pointer to push it back to 44-40, but Marblehead kept grinding it out. McKinley and Abu each hit 1 of 2 free throws to get it down to 44-42 with 3:12 left and the Magicians twice had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, but Allen missed a 3-pointer and the Magicians threw the ball away on their next possession. Marblehead finished with 18 turnovers.

It was still a one possession game with under a minute left when Serino made like former Patriots defensive back Asante Samuel, intercepting a pass and taking it to the house to seal it.

Hanscom had no complaints about the effort against Wakefield or the season. Marblehead isn't exactly a perennial No. 1 seed. The Magicians earned it.

"It was good," said Hanscom. "The kids worked hard. We only have one senior (Abu). This is an exciting time for us."