STONEHAM — Fifty points is the de facto target number Pentucket coach Leo Parent says his Sachems (12-6) have to hold opponents to in order to have a shot to win games.
Of course, Parent is dead on the money. In all six of Pentucket's losses this season the Sachems have allowed 50 or more points, including Saturday's loss to Stoneham, 65-48.
Will Angelini scored a game-high 23 points, but the player many Pentucket fans were keeping an eye on due to his pursuit of 1,000 points — Corey McNamara — struggled all night and finished with just three points. Six points shy of 1,000, the senior will get his next shot at the milestone in the Marblehead tournament tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Eight times this year Pentucket has allowed teams to score 50 or more — one being the overtime, two-point victory over Newburyport in the River Rival holiday tournament — and the Sachems are just 2-6 in those games.
Against Stoneham, the Sachems did themselves no favors, allowing five Spartans to score in double figures.
"I think the key for us is defense. If we play defense like we did (Saturday), we're going to have trouble winning basketball games, and 50 is a number we try to work toward to keep teams at that number," Parent reiterated. "If we can do that, we think we can have some success, but this was a step backward."
On the road against Stoneham in the second of back-to-back games, Pentucket looked sluggish from the start and was down 8-0 before they knew what had hit them.
Turning the ball over again and again, leading to many easy transition buckets for the Spartans, and playing poor half-court defense, the Sachems would not get a sniff of the lead the entire game. In fact, after Stoneham scored the initial bucket, Pentucket never tied the game and never got closer than a four-point margin at 24-20 midway through the second quarter.
"We set the tone for the day, we fell behind 8-0 and we were playing catch-up ever since," Parent said. "We know what type of team Stoneham is, what type of schedule they play. They're coming off a big win over Wakefield as we did over Triton, but they came out ready to play, we came out slow.
"We were really beating ourselves in the first two quarters, which was frustrating," continued the veteran 17-year Pentucket coach. "We're better than that, we've been playing good basketball for a month now, and this was a step back."
Dating back to Pentucket's loss to Whittier on Jan. 8, the Sachems had ripped off a 9-1 stretch. But the team playing Saturday afternoon did not look like that Sachem team of the last month.
"I know this group of kids — they're not going to hang their heads, they're going to come ready to work in practice and we're going to attempt to get better and that's the bottom line," Parent said. "It's one game and we're going to attempt to get better.
"I think it was us, I think you come out and spot a team an eight-point lead and through our own mistakes, our lack of defense, our lack of offensive execution and you're playing catch-up, you can't do that against teams like this," followed up Parent about what his team did poorly on the night. "Stoneham played hard. I thought their defense was good tonight, they were up in the passing lanes, they did a lot of good things tonight, but we need to look at ourselves and see what we can get better at."
Thad Young breaks out of his slump in Sixers' loss
Cormier prepares for Strikeforce 40 fight with Barnett
Thad Young's impressive block and layup
Sixers fix mistakes in Game 2 and finish off the Celtics
76ers even series with Celtics
Collins on a sloppy and physical Game 2 win
Sixers on learning how to close out game
Dei Lynam recaps the Sixers' win in Boston
The Sixers' youth played key role in Game 2 win
Sixers on Lavoy Allen's strong play vs. Garnett in Game 2
The Phillies are finding some consistency
Blanton is happy to be healthy and contributing
Polanco talks about his 2,000th career hit
Blanton happy to be healthy and contributing
The Phillies are searching for consistency
Inside the Sixers' locker room after Game 6
Sixers talk about overcoming the odds to win
Iguodala shares his thoughts on final free throws
Collins: 'I'm a Sixer for life'
Sixers excited to face Boston in the 2nd round
