The Chelsea High boys basketball team earned its third straight victory with a 44-43 victory at Shawsheen Tech last Friday. The Red Devils moved out to a 10-8 lead after the first period, but Shawsheen rebounded to take a one point lead at the half, 22-21.
Chelsea came out fast and furious after the intermission to retake the advantage by eight points after the third quarter, 34-26, a lead the Red Devils never would relinquish. Chelsea maintained a margin of four points the rest of the way, with a three pointer by Shawsheen at the final buzzer accounting for the one-point final margin.
Carlos Vazquez led Chelsea with 12 points. Brian Horn sank a trio of three pointers for nine points on the night. Jorge Ramos hit for eight points, Oscar Sabillon struck for six, Hector Sarmiento (who made a key steal late in the game) contributed five, and Eddie Irizarry scored four.
The Red Devils almost made it four wins in a row Tuesday evening, but came out on the short end of a 48-46 decision to a Greater Lowell team that had defeated Chelsea by 12 points in their first meeting earlier in the season.
The contest was nip and tuck affair the whole way. Chelsea led 18-16 after one period, but trailed 32-29 at the half. The teams battled back and forth throughout the second half, but the Red Devils were not quite able to put together a run to take control of the game.
“Overall we played well,” said CHS head coach Jay Seigal, “but we couldn’t get over the hump. We made some mistakes that hurt us throughout the game and then missed some easy shots in the fourth quarter that could have given us the lead.”
Vazquez and Sarmiento paced Chelsea with 14 points each. Sabillon also reached double figures with 11 points, followed by Irizarry with seven, Ramos with three, and Horn and Nelson Vega with two each.
“The team is heading in the right direction,” said Seigal, whose squad now stands at 3-7 at the halfway mark of the season. “We’re playing better and if we can become more consistent, we should do well in the second half of the year.”
Seigal and his crew will play at Mystic Valley tomorrow (Friday) evening and then will trek to Revere Wednesday night for a rematch with their foes from the Beach City.