Get Your Tickets Now for the Marauders Trip to ‘The Garden’ on Jan. 10

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It’s a trip of a basketball lifetime: Belmont High’s Boys’ Basketball will travel to the TD Bank Garden on Saturday, Jan. 10 to take on Somerville High as part of the 2015 Good Sports Invitational.

And you can join the Marauders as they play under more championship banners than any other arena in the country as fans will be treated to a professional-caliber game presentation, featuring music and instant replays on the Garden HDX scoreboard. Just imagine seeing 20-foot tall Adam Kleckner and Ben Lazenby hitting threes in high def.

The game will take place at 12:30 p.m. – the match is part of an eight game one-day tournament with some of the best high school teams from the Boston-area competing – which will allow enough time to get back home to see the New England Patriots’ playoff game that afternoon.

In addition, many fans will be taking the 10:27 a.m. MBTA commuter rail train from Belmont Center to the Garden. 

TICKETS are $14 ($15 at the door) and are being sold at Champions Sporting Goods, 53 Leonard St. and Rancatore’s Ice Cream, 36 Leonard St.

Boys’ Basketball Starts Fast, Races By Stoneham, 82-47

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Simply put, this edition of Belmont High School Boys’ Basketball was too quick, too big, too skilled and too good for Stoneham High on Tuesday, Dec. 23 at the Wenner Field House, downing the visitors, 82-47.

Just how dominate was the Marauders? In the first four minutes of the game, the starting five outscored the Spartans, 15-0 (the squad was ahead 13-0 two minutes in) and Belmont Head Coach Adam Pritchard had five subs on the sidelines ready to give his starters an early Christmas-Eve Eve rest.

While Stoneham did cut the lead to 7 (15-8) with a minute left, a pair of threes from junior forward Cole Bartels upped the lead to 21-10 at the end of the half.

Then the starters came back in and senior point guard Ben Lazenby knocked down the next 7 points (a drive through the lane, a break away and a deep three) as the defense clamped down on Stoneham led by big man senior center Adam Kleckner who either harassed or rebounded everything that came his way.

A drive by Kleckner and a rare four point play (hitting the three while being fouled) from junior guard Matt Kerans saw led grow to 38-15. In came the subs and soon the lead expanded to 29 (48-19) thanks to a pair from Bartels just before the half and a game high of 32 (58-26) midway through the third.

“Yeah, we were good out there,” said Pritchard, noting that Stoneham is not a walkover as it defeated a strong Winchester team last week.

When asked what did the team gain in a blow out, Pritchard said “[o]ur goal is to get better with each game and what I saw tonight is that [the team] played unselfishly and every game you do that, you benefit.”

Pritchard was able to clear the bench for an extended period allowing reserve senior forward Pablo Reimers and sophomore Bryan Goodwin to hit towering threes and injured senior captain Tom Martin the chance to bang in his first basket of the year to the cheers of the crowd.

Belmont Boys’ Basketball Throws 6s, Again, in Home Opener Win Over Melrose

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Photo: Belmont High School’s senior center Adam Kleckner grabs an offensive rebound vs. Melrose in the Marauder’s 66-50 win on Dec. 19, 2014. 

The number 66 is a spheric, triangular, hexagonal and a semi-meandric number. And being a multiple of a perfect number, 66 is itself a semiperfect number.

It is also been the number of points the Belmont High School Boys’ Basketball have averaged in their first two victories of the 2014-15 season. That calculation is a simple one as the Marauders have scored 66 points in those consecutive games.

On Friday afternoon, Dec. 19, at Belmont’s home opener against a scrappy Melrose High team, the Marauders led from start to finish, going ahead 11-1 before exploding for 27 points in the third quarter to win easily, 66-50, at the friendly, linoleum court confines of Wenner Field House.

“Don’t take anything away from Melrose. They are a good team with a great shooter [Cody Andrews, who topped all scorers with 23 points),” said Belmont Head Coach Adam Pritchard.

“We got our break going and grabbed the rebounds we needed to play our game plan,” said Pritchard.

And that game over the first two matches this season is speed and muscle as junior guard Matt Kerans came off a sub-par game (for him) at Watertown to match senior All-Star center Adam Kleckner in scoring both from the outside and close to the basket. While Kerans connected for a trio of treys for 9 of his 17 points, the big man (6-foot, 5-inches) Kleckner buried a pair from beyond the arc to round out a workman-like 13 points and a gaggle of rebounds.

After jumping out to a 10 point lead midway through the opening frame, Belmont kept the 10 point margin through the first half with starting third guard Jaemar Paul (12 points) sinking two treys and senior sub Peter Durkin going four-for-four from the line.

After Andrews’ five baskets in the second quarter cut the lead to eight at the half, 30-22, the Marauders displayed an ability to step on the gas and put the breaks on the opponent’s offense in the third quarter as Belmont outscored the Red Raiders, 27-11, as the team hit six threes, lead by the two-way play of senior guard Ben Lazenby (13 points) who scored 10 points (including two threes), dished out assists and created two steals.

By the end of the quarter, the benches started emptying for both teams.

“I wish I could say that it was all coaching that gives us the edge in second halfs  but I would be lying,” said Pritchard.

“[The players] know what needs to be done and they push themselves. There’s no big secret,” he said.

Sports: Boys’ Basketball Drains Watertown in Opener, 66-49

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Photo: Belmont’s senior swingman Seth Altman driving for two of his 12 points in the season opener with Watertown.

At the end of the first quarter, the score in the opening game of the 2014-15 Belmont High Boys’ basketball season: Watertown, 16; Adam Kleckner, 8.

Without the talented senior center and co-captain playing is “A” game in the first eight minutes of the game, Belmont – which many sports observers believe the team could have a long run in the playoffs in March – was not prepared for a hustling and cocky Raiders’ team playing at home.

“Kleckner (a game-high 23 points and about the same number of rebounds) is a very talented player who can shot threes and play the outside but he’s very tough under the basket and the free throws proved it,” said Belmont’s long-time Head Coach Adam Pritchard.

In fact, Belmont clearly stumbled out to the gate, missing shots and not quite handling the Watertown defense.

“Watertown has a good basketball team with two kids who can really shoot the ball,” said Pritchard of junior guard Brendan Hoban (13 points) and senior Mike Hagopian (18 points).

“We were a little bit tentative offensively,” he said, as Belmont seemingly couldn’t find an open shot in the first 10 minutes of the game as Watertown twice took an 11 point lead (20-9 and 22-11) two minutes into the second quarter.

Seeking to spark up the offense, Pritchard substituted in senior Seth Altman (12 points) and junior Cole Bartels (6 points) which paid off when Altman swept in on a drive to score his first varsity hoop to cut the deficit to seven (22-15). And despite back-to-back sequences where Belmont players couldn’t put in four under-the-basket “bunnies,” the tide began turning in the Marauders’ favor with the Marauders

“I have to say, having [Seth] Altman coming into the game and knocking down threes and Cole [Bartels] to hit shots makes us a very potent team,” he said as the team trailed by three at the half, 26-23.

With a shaky first half in the rearview mirror, Belmont’s starters stepped up the pressure on Watertown while some old friends, the backcourt duo of co-captains senior Ben Lazenby (4 points) and junior Matt Kerans (15 points), returned to their “slash and burn” ways – quick moves to the basket or long-range shots – as they partnered for four and nine points respectively.

A 39-38 deficit flipped to a two-point lead after Kerans buried three free throws (he was fouled throwing up a trey) with 56 seconds remaining and then saw his bomb hit the front of the rim before falling in to give him six points in the final 50 seconds and Belmont the lead for good at 44-39.

“We did a much better job defensively in the second half. It just took a little bit to lock down our defense on them,” said Pritchard.

When Watertown crept close at 47-44, Altman banged in the first of two threes that Bartels matched in the final quarter as Belmont outscored the Raiders 43 to 23 to win the opener, 66-49.

“We got off to a slow start, but we had a great comeback,” said Altman who Pritchard views as the team’s “swing” man.

“It’s the other guys that make it easy. I’m just doing the simple job taking the shots,” he said.