Tewksbury Boys Basketball's 2012-2013 season got underway this past Saturday.  Here's a recap of the action:

Cadet Division-

Thunder Over Hawks
The Thunder opened the 2012-13 season with a victory over the Hawks.  The ball movement was crisp from the opening possession which led to great scoring opportunities throughout the game.  Brady McHugh was the team’s high scorer with 14.  Connor Griffin had 10 and Taylor Pendleton added 4.  Aiden Trulli and Nicholas Alvarado also had 2 points each.  The strong team defense effort was led by Bobby Branchaud and Matthew Duggan and got quality contributions from Sam Hines and Jonathan Spanos.  Pendleton and Trulli were also both strong on the boards, particularly on the offensive end.

Jonny Raggucci opened the season by scoring the first 2 baskets of the Hawks season. Brady Litton who did great at getting open and Christian Smith whose dribbling skills also added helped add baskets to the total. William Eskenas played solid defense for the Hawks. Michael Hill had a monster block. Johnny baker and Albie Bosworth earned defensive player of the game recognition by staying in position and making every basket difficult for the Thunder. Michael Carlson did a great job bringing the ball up and passing to the open person. Sean Connolly had a good second half playing defense and passing the ball to help spread the offense.

Rockets 19  -   Bucks  14
In an opening day match up between the Rockets and the BuckS, the Rockets were able to take home the tight matchup by the score of 19-14! The Rockets had five players hit the scoring column for them today with Shane Exilhomme making 1 of 2 free throws for 1 point, both Jordan MacKenzie and Marcus Canas scoring a basket for 2 points each, Colin Goggins with 3 baskets in the lane for 6 points and Michael Sullivan with 8 points. It was a terrific all around game by the entire team with Goggins and Canas doing an excellent job of rebounding with Sullivan, Exilhomme, Jack Callahan and Adam Ellegood all providing good ball handling skills throughout the game while Tim Panilaitis and Jack Stadtman played outstanding defense throughout the game.

Travis Cohen led the Bucks in scoring with 8 pts as he was an unstoppable force under the basket including multiple block shots on defense. Brian Carleton and Dylan Paulding (4 points) played the point guard position like seasoned veterans continuously breaking down the defense with their dribbling skills and feeding the ball down low for high percentage shots. Trent Cutroneo, David Miller, Aiden Crogan, and Ryan Murphy cleaned the glass with their rebounding skills throughout the entire game limiting the Rockets to one shot per trip down the floor for most of the game. Tristen Leslie (2 points) and William Humphrey led the second unit for the Bucks and showed off their lockdown defense skills throughout the game. The Bucks down 7 points with 4 minutes to play put a strong rush to comeback but ultimately the comeback fell just slightly short in the end.

RAPTORS 18 CELTICS 8
It was a strong  season opening performance for the Raptors on Saturday . A long awaited tip off vs. the Celtics finished with a win for the Raptors with a final score of 18 - 8. Off the injured reserve list was their leading scorer Christian Marsden with an amazing 12 points with Jason Svendsen and Brady lane adding the remaining points. The Raptors will have to prepare themselves physically for their next opponent- 

The Rockets.
Leading the Celtics in scoring were Ryan Melo with 4 points and both Jeremy Perez and Alex Arbogast with two points each.  Danny Franklin, Collin Strong, Noah Williams, Leo Strangman, Romyn Lorick and Bobby Ryan contributed with great offensive and defensive effort with multiple steals, great passing and excellent rebounding skills.

Pistons 10 – Knicks 6
The Pistons got the season off to a great start with a hard fought victory over the Knicks.  The team played tough defense all game with excellent ball pressure applied by Shea Moynihan and Dylan Crowley.  Will McFadyen led a balanced scoring attack with 4 points, while Nicolas DiCioccio, Josh Engleken and Mark Olu chipped in with 2 points apiece.  The Pistons passing game was in mid season form with Simon Dunham making a great pass to set up one basket.  Vincent Marchelletta made an aggressive move in the paint to get to the line.  David Penney captured 3 rebounds to start fast breaks and get the offense moving.

The Pistons jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, but the Knicks started to mount a comeback with back to back baskets from Daedon Bere and Blake Ryder. The game remained close thanks to some tough defense from Ryan Flynn and Quinn Brown and some key rebounds from Scott Lightburn and Nick Polimero. After a brief lull in the scoring, Trevor Trodden sank a difficult running jump shot to draw the Knicks to within 2 points. Solid defense and passing from Tyler Trodden kept the game close until the final minutes when the Pistons scored a late basket to put the game away.

SIXERS 14 SUNS 6
Sixers had a great start to the season with a win over the Suns 14-6.  Scoring all the baskets were the combination of Daniel and Ryan Fleming.  With only 7 players this week the boys all had to play a lot to keep up with the Suns.  Kyle Adams and David Timmons had many shooting attempts that failed to fall, but also had many assists helping the Fleming brothers to score.  Pouriya Mehrabani, James Carroll and John O’Donnell each were tremendous in their defensive playing and also assisted with the scoring, all players getting a shot at the hoop too.  All and all a great first game and very proud coaches for the boys listening and team work.

Junior Division

Spurs vs 76ers
In the season’s first game for the 76ers they faced a very good team in the Spurs. The 76ers maintained a consistent offense, scoring in all but one play period and winning their first game by the score of 29-20.  The 76ers maintained composure on defense communicating well with each other and maintaining the zone defense scheme. This week’s notable defensive players are Mark Bradley, Dominic Cohen, Arya Mehrabani, Damien Hadden, Zach Hines and Adam Trudeau.

The 76ers also displayed great team passing giving everyone multiple opportunities for scoring. 76ers scoring finished with Paul Manzi (11pts.), Adam Trudeau (4pts.), Mark Bradley (4pts), Zach Hines (4pts), Logan Reinhard (3pts.), Mit Patel (2pt.) and Nikolas Smith (1pt).

Lakers-Wizards
The Lakers, this year's expansion team, took on the Wizards at the Wynn Middle School Gym.
The game started slow for the Lakers with just 6 points on the board in the 1st Quarter. Scoring was by Jason Marineau, Tyler Demers and Matt Rosemond all with 2 points each. The Second Quarter remained a defensive battle with Lakers scoring 2 more by Tyler Demers and Matt Rosemond. The Halftime Score was 10-5 Lakers. The 3rd Quarter started fast for the Lakers with baskets by Jason Marineau 3 Points, Matt Rosemond 3 points; plus Cam Hodgson and Mihir Bagul each added 2 points a piece.

The Lakers would then shut it down defensively with Robert Cortes, Sean Fahey, Pat Rosemond and Tyler Rashella all playing hard with fast hands stealing the ball and blocking passes by the Wizards. The also added excellent offensive passing and ball control to take over the game. The 4th Quarter was all Lakers with Cam Hodgson, Tyler Demers and Pat Rosemond all scoring 2 more points a piece. Lakers win 26-6

Warriors vs Celtics
The Celtics dropped their season opener in a tough loss to Warrios 16-14.
Down 16-10 late in the game the Celtics mounted a furious comeback in last
minute to come within a bucket but fell short.  Scoring for the Celtics where
Jacob Bragg, Robert Chisholm,Patrick Killion and James Reardon.
Playing solid defense for the Celtics were Matthew Ferreira,
Adam Gallagher, Nathan Jones, Cameron Lamoureux and Liam MacDonald.
 

Intermediate Division

Celtics 34  Bucks 32
What a way to start the season with a back and forth battle that in the end was won by the Celtics. Leading the way in scoring for the Bucks was Jake Dillon with 12 points, followed by Kyle Strong with 6 points.  Also, hitting the score sheet was Cam Grace with 4 points along with Derek Steinbrecher, Jake Winter, Jason Richardson, Cam O’Hearn and Josh Winter all with 2 points.  Coming up huge on the defensive end were Raymond Humphrey and Chris Dami who in the fourth quarter were able to keep the game close. Way to go guy let keep it up all season.

Thunder 24  Jazz 19
Congratulations to the Thunder for opening their season with a hard-fought victory over the Jazz! Scoring was led by Nicholas Catizone & Evan McCarthy, with Nicholas Chinappi and Jason Molea also contributing. The defensive effort was outstanding, with the players adapting to various zone and man-to-man defenses over the course of the game. Guards Derek Leffler, John Nowell & Ryan Joyce put great pressure on the ball handlers. Patrick Dunn, Andrew Ferreira and Alex Kelleher were key to the rebounding and fast break efforts.


Senior Division

Bobcats- 75- Rocket 49
The BOBCATS played their first game of this new season against the ROCKETS. Even though the ‘CATS were less than a full squad they pulled out the win for a final score of 75-59. With two seasoned players back from last year, Nate Tenaglia & Josh Thompson with unbelievable scoring & defense to lead the way to get the other team mates into the flow of the game. With Cole Bugley, Ryan Nickerson, & Josh Snyder boxing out on defense & stopping easy baskets by the ROCKETS, the opposing team knew they were in trouble going into the second half. Guards Derek Cronis, Josh Melanson, & Danny Nguyen dishing out assists to the scorers. Danny lifted the crowd with a jumper that was almost a three pointer & his tenacious defense for causing turnovers for points.    


Blazers – Sixers
The Blazers opened up the 2012-2013 basketball season with a 58-21 win against the Sixers. Billy Bennett led all scorers with 24pts and Josh Asselin was not far behind with 14 pts of his own. Evan Surrette (5 pts) & Colby Nowak (9 pts) ran the floor with surgical precision dishing the ball to Justin Keogh(2 pts), Chris Bennett( 2 pts),Jeff D'Entremont (2 pts) & Cameron Smith(2 pts). Not to go unnoticed was Ryan Indingaro's tenacious defense & knack for a big rebound or steal.