A hounding defensive performance lifted the Belmont boys’ basketball team to a gritty 51-40 victory over Chelmsford in the preliminary round of the MIAA Division 1 tournament Tuesday night at Wenner Field House.
The 31st-seeded Marauders (13-8) left the No. 34 Lions (11-10) with no answers on the offensive end, punctuated by a 5-point second quarter. Chelmsford resorted to low-percentage 3-pointers that seldom fell after continuously stagnating with the ball in its hands.
“We’re obviously a lot bigger than some of the other teams,” Belmont coach Danny Burns said. “Switching is something we mix-and-match with, we’re not a big switching team. But tonight we switched, tried to keep guys in front, and it worked.”
Belmont wasn’t exactly accurate from beyond the arc either, connecting just four times beyond the arc. Senior captain Charlie Tingos fired in a team-high 13 points, including half of the team’s 3-pointers.
Fellow senior captain Andre Chavushian added 10 points, 6 of which came in the opening moments of the game. His silky drives to the bucket seemed like a sure sign of things to come, but the Lions bothered him each time he stepped foot in the paint following his fruitful opening frame.
The Marauders finished with a subpar 4-16 record last season. They turned the program around this year, leading to a first career playoff win for leading scorers Tingos and Chavushian.
“Sophomore year we got bounced by Peabody, so it’s cool — it feels good after all the hard work,” Chavushian said. “It paid off.”
Braiden Dargon (9 points) was a feared presence inside the paint, scoring two quick layups in the middle of the third quarter as Belmont pulled away for good. Chelmsford failed to cut the deficit to single digits from that point on.
Senior center Brendan Barth did everything he could to keep Chelmsford in the fight, finishing off a few tough turnaround baskets in the post en route to a game-high 17 points. He played nearly the entire contest and drew a multitude of fouls to frequent the free throw line.
Belmont now has a tall task in the round of 32, against second-seeded Andover and MVC Division 1 Co-Player of the Year Josh Roux.
“We’re the underdogs, no one expects us to win,” Tingos said. “There’s really no pressure, just go in there and play our game.”
Division 2
Norwood 60, Agawam 55 — The No. 36 Mustangs (11-10) trailed by 10 at the end of first quarter, but junior Mike Dever (20 points) and sophomore Roman Coras (16 points) provided the spark in the road win at No. 29 Agawam (9-12) in the preliminary round.
“We’re a young team, so as the game went along we just started getting a little more confident,” said Norwood coach Chris Fraioli. “Senior captain Sam Larkee played exceptional defense on their best player [Tre Moynihan], he’s averaging 29 points and we held him to 6.”
The Mustangs advance to the round of 32 and will hit the road to take on Plymouth South Friday at 6 p.m.
Division 3
Stoneham 78, Belchertown 59 — Junior guard Liam MacPhee poured in 22 of his career-high 37 points in the first quarter, burying five 3-pointers, fueling a 28-9 burst for the No. 22 Lancers (13-8) in the preliminary-round win over No. 43 Belchertown (10-11).
“He had 30 in a prelim last year as a sophomore, so he really plays well in big games,” said Stoneham coach Jim Bakeman. MacPhee (career-high eight 3-pointers) scored the first 16 points for Stoneham.
“We did a good job of pushing the ball, and [Belchertown] could not find him. He was getting shots in transition, and we got him shots off a couple of set plays.”
Senior Weston Bunnell added 17 points, and junior Mason Lord had 13. Their production helped make up for the second-half absence of 6-foot-7-inch senior Tony Dean (6 points, 12 rebounds), an all-conference player who was under the weather.
“Really good to see all three of those guys stepping up with Tony not really feeling well,” Bakeman said. “We did not fold.” Next up, a first-round game at Weston.
Girls’ basketball
Division 1
Peabody 57, Medford 33 — The No. 31 Tanners (15-6) sprinted to an 18-point first-quarter cushion in the preliminary-round win over No. 34 Medford (12-9).
“Last weekend we played Reading, and we started off with a 23-3 first quarter which we almost replicated today,” said Peabody coach Stan McKeen. “It’s key to us to get off to a good start and in the last four or five games, we’ve gotten off to great starts.”
Senior Olivia Gaynor led the Tanners with 17 points, seniors Lizzy Bettencourt and Sophia Coburn both grabbed 10 rebounds, and senior Aliana Ryan notched five steals.
The Tanners will travel to second-seeded Bishop Feehan on Friday at 7 p.m.
Boys’ hockey
Division 1
Arlington 6, Needham 0 — The fourth-seeded Spy Ponders (18-5-0) had five players score in their first-round victory over the No. 29 Rockets (7-12-2) at Ed Burns Arena.
Cam Petrillo opened the scoring 5:50 into the second period off an assist from Drew Beck, who added a power-play goal 26 seconds later.
Charlie Fecteau and Dylan Courtney each scored 22 seconds apart in the third, and Petrillo and Ruben Williams added late tallies to close out the victory.
“It was a really competitive game for the first two periods and their goalie [Carson Brownridge] played terrific, we had almost 40 shots in the first two periods,” said Arlington coach John Messuri. “I think by that point we applied so much pressure they got a little bit tired. We were able to take advantage of that.”
Brownridge made 38 saves for the Rockets. Arlington will host the winner of the game between Framingham and Lincoln-Sudbury on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Wellesley 4, Medford 1 — The No. 31 Raiders (10-11-0) used an all-around performance to knock off the No. 34 Mustangs (11-11-0) in a preliminary-round win at Boston Sports Institute.
Trailing 1-0 at the start of the second period, sophomore Owen Keating and senior Brian Pezzulich scored 19 seconds apart, and junior Aidan O’Donnell added to the lead with 1:50 left in the second. Senior Evan Farley also got on the scoresheet in the third period. Junior Conor Foley logged 18 saves in the victory.
The Raiders will face No. 2 Xaverian on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Canton Ice House.
Girls’ hockey
Division 1
Shawsheen/Bedford/Lowell 3, Central Catholic 1 — Junior Becca Sobol scored a pair of goals as the No. 32 Rams (12-9-0) earned a preliminary-round win over the No. 33 Raiders (8-9-4) at Tsongas Center.
Violet Lorusso added a goal in the second period.
“We tried to play under control, didn’t panic and just knew that we could play defensively in our systems,” said Shawsheen/Bedford/Lowell coach Michael Giordano. “We have to play the No. 1 team, which is the Notre Dame Academy of Hingham, on Thursday, and we’re just going to have to do the same thing. Play our system, play our game, and try to sneak out a win.”
Molly Boyden netted the lone Central Catholic goal in the second period to close out the scoring.
The Rams will face the top-seeded Cougars at Rockland Arena on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Correspondents Webb Constable and Siera Qosaj, and Craig Larson of the Globe staff contributed.
Cameron Pellegrino can be reached at cameron.Pelegrino@globe.com. Follow him on X @cam_pellegrino.