NORTH READING — The NRHS basketball team went 1-1 over the last week to bring their record to 6-3 overall. On Friday, the Hornets fell tot Newburyport on the road, 64-59 before bouncing back with a convincing 67-44 win over Hamilton-Wenham at home on Monday.
A fast start saw the Hornets take an early 10-2 lead in Newburyport behind torrid shooting from senior Andrew Boulas who had 9 points in the quarter. Classsmate Logan Scribner had 7 in quarter as NR held a 23-10 lead at end of one.
The visitors began to cool off offensively in the 2nd quarter and Newburyport began to warm up, but North Reading still maintained a 35-25 lead at the half.
The 3rd quarter was explosive for both sides as each offense got hot again. Newburyport began to assert itself inside taking advantage of a significant size difference.
A huge Boulas 3-pointer put the Hornets up 50-36 late in the quarter but Newburyport’s strength inside cut the lead to 8 at the end of the 3rd.
The Clippers’ onslaught continued into the 4th as NR went stone cold from the field failing to generate any offense while Newburyport continued its dominance inside. The Hornets only managed one field goal in the quarter on a Boulas 3.
The game remained tight until the final buzzer with NR missing out on a couple of fast break opportunities to tie it late, falling 64-59.
Boulas continued his offensive mastery scoring 20 points while Scribner had 16.
After a week on the road, the locals came home to host Hamilton-Wenham in a MLK day matinee.
It was all NR in the early going as the Green and Gold used a combination of intense full court pressure and timely shooting to open up a huge lead, again scoring 23 in the 1st quarter behind Boulas’ 12 points leading 23-9 at the end of one.
The 2nd quarter was more of the same as suffocating defense led to easy Hornet buckets. The score was 44-18 at the half.
The 3rd quarter woes continued for NR.
“For whatever reason we have struggled in the 3rd quarter and this game was no different,” said head coach Joe Casey.
The offense came to a screeching halt, as NR didn’t score for the first two minutes of the quarter. The energy level dropped and H-W slowly crept back into the game cutting a huge Hornet lead. The Hornets only scored 8 in the quarter and held a 52-36 advantage heading into 4th.
The Hornets couldn’t shake the Generals easily but once again it was an Alex Carucci steal and three-point play that put H-W away once and for all early in the 4th quarter.
“Alex continues to be a spark for us,” said Casey. “He is our workhorse and we feed off of his energy.”
Boulas led all scorers with 27 while Scribner had 14. Forward Matt Guidebeck, who injured his foot and was out for the Ipswich game last week, has played well in his return. He had 13 points and 8 rebounds in the victory.
“We are at our best when we’re playing with high energy on the defensive end,” said Casey.
At 6-3 the Hornets are facing a huge game on the road vs. Lynnfield Friday night at 7 p.m.
