Boston Warrior AAU Boy's Basketball: Warrior News: Brockton, Gerry hit it big on boys court - Tuesday Night in review

Consistent from start to finish, Gerry, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, poured in a career-high 37 points to lead the Boxers to a Big Three-clinching 89-61 win over the Whalers at the Staff Gym. “Kyle had the kind of offensive night that he’s capable of,” said first-year Brockton head coach Bob Boen. “He made those 3-point shots (six of them) and when he missed, he seemed to get the rebound and put it right back in. “Kyle plays so hard every minute of the game. Offensively, he works to get open every play. He works to get his shot and, like I said, when he misses, he works to go get it again. Kyle had a tremendous game.”

Junior forward Louis Montes (17 points) and junior guard Shawn Yard, who had 16 points off the bench, also enjoyed double-figure games for the Boxers (14-2, 4-0 Big Three). Clearly, though, this night belonged to Gerry, who put together quarters of seven, 12, nine and nine points. “I just shot the ball and everything went in,” said Gerry. “Whatever I took went in.” Neither team enjoyed a lead larger than five points in a first quarter that saw five ties and ended with the Boxers clinging to a 22-20 lead over the Whalers (8-9, 1-2 Big Three) . A 13-2 spurt over the first four minutes of the second quarter pushed Brockton’s lead to 35-22 on back-to-back 3s by senior forward Corey Cooper and Gerry and it remained that way the rest of the night. The Boxers’ first-half lead peaked at 20, 47-27, on a tip-in by junior forward Jarrod DeVaughn and again at 49-29 when Gerry answered a low-post bucket by Mitchell Tetreault, New Bedford’s junior center, with a finger roll. “That’s a lot of points,” said Boen, reflecting upon a 28-point second quarter that gave his team a 50-34 lead at the break. “We did get the lead there in the second quarter and we held on to it pretty well.” The Whalers pull to within 52-41 when junior guard Aaron Mullings (12 points) followed a hoop by Tetreault (a team-high 14) with a 15-foot jumper, but Gerry responded with a tip-in and another 3-pointer to put the Boxers back in command. “I just got in a groove,” said Gerry. “I asked for the ball, got it, and just shot it. It was a good night.” Up 67-53 after three quarters, Brockton steadily built upon its lead down the stretch, doubling it at night’s end. Senior guard Derrick Williams and junior forward Rondell Best closed out the game with baskets to produce the 28-point margin of victory.

“Offensively, that’s what we’ve been looking for,” said Boen, whose team will return to action when it plays host to Andover on Friday night. “We’ve really been waiting for a night like that where we started dropping those threes and got the ball racing up and down the court.”

Wakefield 76, Watertown 65

Watertown, the reigning Division 3 state champion, lost its second straight game following an 18-0 start, falling, 76-65, to visiting Middlesex League nemesis Wakefield.

Junior point guard Benyam Kerman poured in a career-high 29 points and had 10 steals, while junior forwards Kyle and Cory Stockmal added 16 and 10 points, respectively, but the Raiders couldn't rebound from Friday's night's 70-67 home loss to ML rival Woburn. It was a tight affair through the third quarter, but Wakefield pulled away after two Raider starters - Kyle Stockmal and senior forward Jesse Brackett - fouled out in the last seven minutes.

Malden 70, Waltham 41

Classical 58, Peabody 44

At Classical, the Rams defense held the visitors to just 23 points in the first three quarters en route to the comfortable win.

Jarell Byrd had 20 points to lead Classical while Quivari Jackson also reached double figures with 16. Kevin Skop led Peabody with eight points.

Winthrop 40, Marblehead 31

At Winthrop, the 12-4 Vikings moved into a position to tie for the Northeastern Conference/South title if they can beat Saugus Friday and Marblehead loses to Swampscott.

"Both of us sat in zones throughout the game, and Marblehead forced us into a lot of turnovers," said Winthrop coach Dave Brown.

However, Mark Jenkins (nine points overall) hit two threes late in the fourth quarter to open up some breathing room.

"We knew we had to play great defense," Brown said. "Marblehead's been holding teams in the 40s all winter long."

Jonathan Murdock led the way for Winthrop with 15 points. The Vikings held Marblehead's players, individually, to single digits. Damola Abu led the way with eight.

Ham-Wen 81, Lynnfield 71

At Lynnfield, the Pioneers, 10-9, have already clinched a tourney spot, but they've lost two in a row, "and I don't want to go into it with a losing streak," said coach Scott McKenzie.

Lynnfield trailed at the half, 38-35, and was down by six going into the fourth quarter.

Jeff Milinazzo scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Others in double figures were Mike Kennedy (18 points) and Matt Connolly (14, along with seven assists).

John Mehr had nine points, but pulled down 14 rebounds.

Fenwick 75, Spellman 35

At Fenwick, Mike Clifford scored 26 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead the Crusaders. Also having a big night for Fenwick were Trevor Grace (16 points) and Phil Eagan (13).

BB&N 71 Groton 54   Andrew McCarthy, BB&N's 6'7" senior center, was playing his first game back from an injury, and the Zebras had no answer for him, as he racked up 22 points.  Trailing by 13 at halftime, Groton got no closer than that for the remainder of the contest. Leading scorer Andrew Daigneault had another stellar shooting day, making 11 of 20 attempts from the field to finish with 28 points, which led all scorers.