Sports 02-27-2019

RhS Sports Roundup

RHS girls fall to Reading in tourney

The Revere High girls basketball team dropped a 56-38 decision at Reading in a first-round contest of the Division 1 North Sectional of the MIAA girls basketball tournament Monday night. Revere was seeded 12th in the D-1 North and Reading was the #5 seed with a 16-4 record.  

Lady Patriot junior captain Erika Cheever struck for 20 points to lead Revere in the scoring department, but it was not enough to overcome a strong Reading squad.

“We battled and we made runs early in the second quarter and end of third, but we faced a really tough Reading team,” said RHS head coach Matt Willis, whose Lady Patriots enjoyed a successful 2019 campaign, finishing at 11-9 during the regular season. “I was really proud of how hard the kids competed tonight and each day this year.”

RHS boys basketball closes out season

Last Monday night the Revere High boys basketball team traveled up to Hamilton-Wenham to face Winchester in the opening round of the annual General Patton Tournament.

The Patriots were hoping to get off to a quick start against Winchester, which needed to win to stay alive for a chance in the state tournament, but unfortunately things did not go as planned for Coach David Leary’s squad.

Revere got a quick three-pointer from senior co-captain Scotty Montefusco, but the scoring basically dried up for the rest of the quarter and Winchester led 10-5 at the first buzzer.

Leary went to his bench to start the second period and got two quick baskets from junior guard Amara Bockarie, as well as a few tough baskets inside from junior forward Scott Toglan (10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field), but Winchester would not be denied. Winchester drained six three-pointers in the second frame and jumped out to a 36-15 halftime lead.

The Patriots played better after the intermission, led by senior forward Omar Bendjahene (six points, seven rebounds), who made some athletic moves to the basket, and junior guard EJ Leone (five points), who played tough defense to slow down Winchester.

Although the third quarter was played pretty much evenly, Winchester still held a healthy 50-28 advantage after three periods.

Revere got a good look at some of their younger guys with the game out of reach. Sophomore guard Crisrael Lithgow made a nice contested layup. Junior guard Devon Avery drilled a trey and junior guard Michael Hayes made a basket-plus the foul to close out the game.

However, Winchester was just too much, as was reflected in the final score, 66-40. “We lost this game in the second quarter,” said Leary. “We just gave them too many open three-point shots and they made them all.

“I did like the way our young guys battled at the end,” Leary continued, “and when sophomore forward Wilfredo Martinez dove on a loose ball down by 28 points, that was a proud moment for our team. We showed no quit. That is not easy to do considering how things have gone for us the past few weeks.”

The following evening the Patriots took on the host Hamilton-Wenham in the consolation game of the tournament. The home Generals jumped on the Patriots early.

Revere trailed 12-0 halfway into the first quarter and Leary needed to call timeout to calm the team down. Leone was doing a great job defensively on H-W standout guard Billy Whalen (who needed just two points for 1,000 in his career), but the other Generals were making their shots.

The timeout settled everything down and senior co-captains Sebastian Vanegas (six points) and Montefusco knocked down consecutive treys, and along with another three from Leone (12 points), Revere clawed its way back into the game to trail 16-12 after the first quarter.

The Patriots kept their momentum going early in the second period and brought the score back to level at 20-20 on a layup by Bendjahene (five points). Mid-way through the second quarter Whalen pulled up for a deep three-point shot and drained it to finally get his 1,000 points. The Generals seemed to feed off the momentum and went on a huge run, heading into halftime with a 45-23 advantage.

“EJ really did a fantastic job on Whalen the whole first half,” noted Leary. “It was almost as if their team was playing tight until he finally got his 1,000 and then they all relaxed and made shots.”

Revere however, refused to go away easily. Behind the hot shooting of Montefusco (15 points, five rebounds, four assists, 5-for-13 on three-pointers) and some strong drives from EJ, the Patriots cut the deficit to 55-42 heading into the final quarter.

Revere got four quick points from sophomore forward Dillan Day and cut the lead to nine points, but that was as close as the Patriots would get, as the hometown team finally got their offense going again, closing out the game out and the Patriots’ season by a score of 70-49.

 â€œThe last few weeks have been tough for this group, but they never came apart as a team,” said Leary. “We continued to play hard and compete, but just could not put together enough made shots to be able to win games. We will miss our seniors for sure and wish them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors. As for the guys coming back, they now know what to expect and what they need to improve on for next year.”

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