Leominster stunned by Sailors

Source: Sentinel and Enterprise
Author: Chris Klingenberg

LEOMINSTER -- Two years later, it was the same result.

The Scituate High boys basketball team appears to be a thorn in the side of Leominster High after ending the Blue Devils' season for the second time in three years in the Round of 16 in the Division 2 state tournament on Tuesday night.

Trailing by double figures heading into the final quarter, second-seeded Leominster picked up the defensive intensity and cut the 15th-seeded Sailors lead to two with just 30 seconds left, but the visitors calmly stepped up to the free throw line and drained shots down the stretch to hold on for a 55-48 victory.

"They are good," said Leominster head coach Kevin Grutchfield, whose team finished the season with an 18-4 record. "They are better in person than they are on film. Special performance by their best player. They played very good defense and we struggled to get shots off in the first half. I am proud of my seniors for how they battled, but we lost to a better team tonight."

Senior Terrance McCormack drained a deep 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to cut the Scituate deficit to two at 50-48. Scituate's Michael Porter, who had a game-high 31 points, was a perfect 4-for-4 down the stretch from the free throw line to seal the win for the Sailors.

The theme in this one was beating the buzzer as it happened in all three quarters except the fourth. Leominster's Jovani Morales (eight points) connected on a layup to before the clock expired to give the Blue Devils a 10-9 lead after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Porter had a big three-point play with 47 seconds left and Ryan Dunn converted a fast-break layup as time expired to help Scituate extend its lead to double figures for the first time at 33-23 heading into the locker room.

Leominster's Osiris Lopez kept the hosts in the game all night long as he scored a team-high 23 points. Lopez had five straight points late in the quarter to cut the lead down to four at 36-32 before Scituate closed out the quarter on a 9-2 run capped off by a buzzer-beater layup from Brian Good.

The Sailors had a 45-34 lead going into the final quarter.

Playing in his final game, McCormack had seven points to close out his career in a blue and white uniform.

"It is a great run," Grutchfield said. "Winning 18 games is not easy. We beat a lot of good teams and learned a lot about ourselves. It was a tough way to go out, but we will learn from it and get better."