After a dominant win against Saugus, GHS Basketball lost to the Salem Witches, 57-61. After losing by over 30 points in their last contest against Salem, Gloucester came into this game with a strong press defense and team offense but evidently fell short. 

“Losing is never a good feeling and beating the team that killed us last time would’ve been awesome,” captain Zach Oliver said. “Looking at the rest of the season, I hope we keep the same energy on defense and keep knocking down open shots when the opportunity comes. We have to win in order to make the state tournament.” 

Gloucester unloaded a powerful press defense to start their senior night. Gloucester’s offense rained threes on the Salem defense. GHS senior Byron Thomas, Oliver, and senior PJ Zappa all joined the shot-making contest. The Fishermen were down 13-14 after the first.

The Fishermen started the second quarter aggressive. GHS Junior Nate Montagnino scored GHS’ first second-quarter points. Shortly after Thomas stole the ball from Salem, he hit Oliver for an open layup. The Witches rolled out their press defense and shifted the momentum slightly. The first half finished with GHS down 29-33.

“A constant battle back and forth,” Oliver said about the half. “With the crowd going crazy it made every shot we made feel sweeter.”

Gloucester started the third quarter with the ball. Free throws were exchanged after some fouls were committed. Fisherman Thomas kept his threes streak alive with a third three. Salem hit their shots and it led them to control their lead in this quarter. Montagnino and Oliver joined Thomas and hit threes to allow Gloucester to close the gap. At the end of the third quarter, GHS was down 40-42.

GHS’ Montagnino kept the valiant effort to start the fourth quarter. His hustle led to a steal and a layup. Salem’s Darlin Santiago and Gloucester’s Thomas responded to each other’s three-pointers. Junior Adam Borowick also replied to Salem’s freshman Brayson Green prior three-pointer. The Fishermen were down 57-58 after Montagnino had a clutch and one basket. The Witches were brought to the line and only made one free throw. GHS had an opportunity to catch the rebound after the missed free throw, but could not. The Witches scored two more points to ice the game and win 61-57.

GHS Seniors Spike Lorenzana, Alexa Clements, Tara Wood, Burke Nugent, Zappa, Nathaniel Oaks, Jack Patten, Oliver, and Thomas were all celebrated alongside their families.

“I thought that was our best effort all year,” Head Coach Adam Phillpott said. “It was senior night so the emotions were a little high. We were trying to get out and get those guys a win. I am super proud of them, this was a team that beat us by thirty a few ago. It’s night and day when you look at then and now. Everyone is buying in and continuing to work super hard.” Philpott said. “Everyone that got out on that court tonight went all out for each other. If we can continue to play like this come tournament time, I think we will find ourselves in a good spot.”

GHS Basketball’s next game is against Danvers this Friday.