The struggle to score continues to plague the Concord-Carlisle boys’ basketball team as Lincoln-Sudbury rallied from a 10-point deficit to edge the Patriots 47-44 last Friday night at Hays Gymnasium.
CC used a 10-0 run to close out the first and take a 31-23 lead into the locker room. The Patriots scored first in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by sophomore Chris Soillis for a 35-23 lead two minutes into that quarter.
From there, the Warriors outscored CC 24-13 to pull out the come-from-behind win.
L-S started its comeback with a 7-0 run that cut its deficit to 33-30. The Patriots held off L-S for the final four minutes of the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors 8-5 with six points from the free throw line to take a 41-35 lead into the final quarter.
The Warriors opened the fourth by scoring three straight to make it 41-38, Concord-Carlisle. Senior Nick Charles hit a jumper and then ninth-grader Zach Wynn made one of two foul shots and CC was up 44-38 with 5:50 remaining. It was the last time the Patriots would score.
Lincoln-Sudbury hit three layups over the next four minutes, the last by senior Ryan Dooley, to knot the score at 44 all. Dooley missed the free throw that would have given the Warriors the lead.
With 23.4 seconds left, Dooley redeemed himself and hit nothing but net on a jumper from the corner to give L-S a 47-44 lead. The Patriots were able to get off a couple of shots in the waning seconds but could not score.
Coming off the bench, senior Ben Paradis scored nine points and was equaled by Charles to lead the Patriots. Soillis scored seven points and sophomore Tristan Dressler came off the bench to hit two first-quarter threes for six points.
Overall, “our execution was not on par,” said Concord-Carlisle Head Coach Dan Hunt.
Hunt, in his first season of Concord-Carlisle coaching, is installing a different system using what he learned from eight years as an assistant coach to legendary Hall of Fame Coach Barbara Stevens at Bentley University.
“The team plays so hard on defense,” Hunt added. “They need to be able to reward themselves on the other end.”
That hard play on defense showed in holding Lincoln-Sudbury to its fewest points of the season. It was the sixth time this season the Patriots have held an opponent to under 50 points.
In the boys’ first game of the week last Wednesday, they traveled to Reading in hopes of avenging a 48-35 loss to the Rockets on December 17.
The Patriots fell short, losing 50-47 in a game in which their inability to score again plagued them.
Senior Nick Charles led the offense with a season-high 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He added seven steals, the rebounds and three assists. Senior Captain Jed Cain added eight points, including two treys.
The two teams battled back-and-forth for most of the game, and the Patriots had a 10-7 lead after the first quarter. Reading came back in the second and took a 22-19 lead into the locker room.
The second half saw both teams score 28 points, but CC could not take the lead.
“It was a great game that we came up just short yet again,” said CC Assistant Coach Dylan Pella.
