The 45th Lynn Elementary Basketball Tournament concluded another successful year with “All-Star Saturday” on April 1 at the Marshall Middle School gymnasium.
The boys and girls competed in free throw and shooting contests before the two West Lynn-East Lynn All-Star games were played. Ryan Mancaniello (free throw shooting) and Jacob Orival (three-point shooting) were the boys’ champions. Avery Freitas (free throw shooting) and Isabelle Tully (multi-spot shooting) were the girls’ champions.
In the girls’ All-Star game, East Lynn and West Lynn faced off in a contest that wasn’t decided until the final seconds of the game. In the end, East Lynn prevailed by a score of 29-27. Shoemaker’s Fiona Dunn led the East with 10 points while Sisson’s Abigail Rivera scored nine. Ingalls’ Aylin Nunez Cruz chipped in four points including the game-winning basket. Callahan’s Bella DiSaia had eight points and Washington’s Emely Alacron had five points for West Lynn.
The East Lynn boys completed the sweep with a 45-33 victory over West Lynn. Shoemaker teammates Braydon Nicosia (eight points) and Jack Nardone (seven points) led the charge for East Lynn. Cobbet’s Kaleb Villanueva was West Lynn’s high scorer with seven points. Sewell-Anderson’s Jacob Morin had six points.
Under the direction of Lynn Woods School fifth grade teacher Sean Morris, more than 250 boys and girls, representing all 17 elementary schools and 34 teams, participated in the tournament.
“The tournament is one of the best things in the city,” said former Lynn Babe Ruth President Jim Beliveau, who was a referee in this year’s tournament. “There’s a great atmosphere in the gym. The parents and the school communities really support it well. And Sean [Morris] and his committee do a tremendous job organizing it.”
Mr. Morris has truly become the commissioner extraordinaire of elementary school basketball in the city. The students look forward to the tournament every year. “We started on March 1 and ended on April 1,” said Morris. “We had tons of school principals and teachers at this year’s tournament. The teachers look forward to the tournament each year as well.”
Sean Morris was aided by assistant tournament director Brendan Morris, Lauren Powers, and Ashley Melanson. Sean Morris said the tournament will be back for its 46th edition next March.
(Information from the Tournament’s Facebook page was used in this story).