Eight — that is the number of games the Silver Lake High boys’ basketball team had won in a row. At the midway point in the season, the team had a losing record and their playoff chances were in doubt, but they have been dominant ever since. The latest example of this came in their home Valentine’s Day bout against the Hingham Harbormen. In it, the Lakers overcame a double-digit point deficit in the second quarter and picked up a 70-58 victory. The win improved their record to 12-6 on the season.
With the team trailing 30-17 a few minutes into the second quarter, Josh Gilbert hit a three-pointer and Josh Murphy followed it up with a fast break to cut Hingham’s advantage to single digits. The team continued playing sharp defense and early in the third quarter, a Murphy three-pointer made it a 37-33 game.
Hingham then hit a three, but the Lakers responded with a 13-0 run of their own. Nolan Hughes started the run with a bucket. Murphy followed up with a layup. Then Gilbert hit a three to tie it at 40-40; Gilbert then gave the team the lead on a trey. At the end of the run, they led 46-40.
The fourth quarter was hard fought, but the Lakers got hot towards the end of it and ended the game on a 12-4 run to secure the victory.
Gilbert led the team’s offense, scoring a team-high 23 points against Hingham. In addition to the points, he also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists in the winning effort.
The Lakers excelled from three point territory in the win, hitting 47 percent of their shots from outside the arc.
This weekend, the Lakers will likely find out who they are set to face in the playoffs next week.