Mystic Valley Boys Basketball Opens with Win
The Mystic Valley boys’ varsity basketball team christened its new gymnasium in grand style with a convincing 56-40 victory over Commonwealth Athletic Conference (CAC) foe, Lynn Tech, on Tuesday night in the 2011-12 season opener for both teams. The win was the school’s first ever over a CAC Upper Division team in school history.
Find out what's happening in Maldenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Eagles began the game clicking on all cylinders, jumping out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter, and a 32-14 advantage at intermission.
“Getting out to an early lead was a big plus for us,” said Mystic Valley head coach Tony Ferullo. “It gave our players a lot of confidence against one of the traditional power teams in our league.”
Find out what's happening in Maldenwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In the second half, the Eagles continued to play team oriented and inspired basketball, culminating in a 45-30 lead after three quarters. The fourth quarter was filled with many exciting moments as Lynn Tech got hot from the outside and trimmed Mystic Valley’s advantage to 45-40 with a little more than five minutes to play. That’s when the Eagles became united, collected their composure, made good decisions and raced off to an 11-0 spurt to end the game.
“I’m very proud of our student athletes and they deserve all the credit for this big win,” said Ferullo. “They gave a solid effort at both ends of the court and it was a great way to start the season, especially in front of our fans in our new home.”
Senior forward “Big Ben” Bottrell led Mystic Valley with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Senior guard Greg Statho (10), junior guard Hari Perisic (7), senior forward Brian O’Connor (6), senior guard Joey Foley (4), junior center Kevin Hazelton (4), and senior guard Kyle Howard (2) also contributed in the scoring column.
The Eagles next game is Thursday when they travel to Methuen to play another CAC opponent, Fellowship Christian Academy.
