Georgetown squeaks past Ipswich in first game of season

IPSWICH In a thrilling Cape Ann League matchup between Ipswich and the reigning Division state champion Georgetown every second mattered as Georgetown eked out a win To start the meeting each unit applied full-court pressure resulting in a fast-tempo tone for the entire contest with lots of sloppy turnovers and beautiful fast-break plays Early on the Tigers were looking for their go-to senior sniper Vin Winters points and six rebounds setting screens to get him open looks from three They also attacked the low post often where sophomore big man Anderson Pillis seven points and six rebounds was able to total inside On the other side Georgetown was able to explode offensively in the second quarter due to various effective high-low action in the post and kick-out threes Georgetown a crew that typically shoots the three-ball at a high clip struggled behind the arc on the night Senior guard Irvin Zapata points and three three-pointers and junior big man Aleksander Dimove points and eight rebounds combined for of the Royals points at the break In the third quarter senior forward Jomar Terrero points was able to get to the cup often After halftime every time the Royals looked as if they were going to pull away Ipswich came right back There was a clear switch in the Tigers defensive intensity as they allowed just points in the third quarter After being down points early in the third quarter it would ve been easy for the Tigers to hang their heads and accept defeat but Ipswich head coach Alan Laroche made sure that wasn t the affair Led by junior guard Rex Satter points rebounds the Tigers picked up the pace on both ends of the court and forced numerous turnovers leading to quick transition buckets that eventually tied the meeting at apiece However the Royals defense was relentless in the final minute especially when Ipswich was trying to inbound the ball On three inbounds plays in the final minute for the Tigers Georgetown forced a jump ball and two turnovers resulting in four easy points That just goes to show you what type of unit this is these guys will fight till the end They work their tail off They re there for each other They battle They have confidence in themselves reported Laroche I m at a loss for words right now I m just very proud of how they battled there in the third quarter of the championship In the second half our guys ended up just asserting themselves on the defensive end We made things intricate for Georgetown and then we started executing plays in our half-court offense which made a big difference Georgetown senior captain and all-scholastic floor general Brendan Loewen nine points and eight rebounds was the largest part impactful participant on the court even on a night where he wasn t hitting anything from deep If there was a loose ball Loewen was the first on the floor If there was a big rebound to be made Loewen made it When the lights were at their brightest and Loewen was at the free-throw line to ice the match he answered the call going a perfect six-for-six at the line in the fourth quarter Brendan Loewen s a warrior stated first-year Georgetown head coach Kevin Fair I mean there is an obvious reason why he was all-scholastic last year He makes the big play when we need the big play After his band survived the first test of the season Fair reflected on the lessons his group learned and how a quality opponent like Ipswich will prepare his band going forward I ve got to give Ipswich s guys credit We were a little loose in the half-court man-to-man which is not like us declared Fair When we needed to make the big play though our guys stepped up and I m very proud of them They played really hard