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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Delroy Lawrence drives to the basket against Provincetown’s Cody Silva during Saturday’s 62-52 victory over the visiting Fishermen.
Boys Basketball Photo Gallery |
By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The boys basketball team won three straight games this week, swiping two Lighthouse Conference victories and taking revenge over Norton with a win on the Lancers’ home court.
The Whalers improved to 6-5 overall, 3-0 in the league with a 62-52 victory over Provincetown Saturday, a 78-43 win over Cape Cod Academy Friday and a 58-53 win over Norton last Wednesday.
The win streak is a welcome one for a Whalers squad that had dropped four of its last five games.
“We are climbing the ladder. It looked pretty dismal there for a while, but we are coming together as a team. We are playing a lot stronger inside and that really helps,” head coach Beau Almodobar said.
After losing to Norton after a fourth-quarter collapse the weekend before, the Whalers regrouped to go into the Lancers’ home gym and reverse the outcome in another close game down the stretch.
“What it means is that we have grown as a team. We are not always going to run teams out of the gym. We have to learn to slow it down, get the ball inside and once we get the ball inside, we have to trust each other with good passes and really work it from one side of the floor to the other and be more patient,” Almodobar said.
Delroy Lawrence and Josh Butler each notched double-doubles to lead the Whalers in the win. Lawrence scored 19 points and tallied 11 rebounds, while Butler scored 18 with 10 rebounds.
“That was one of the best games we played this year. We played them similar to the game here, but the only difference was the last four minutes, we didn’t turn the ball over. We slowed the ball down and took good shots,” Almodobar said. “It was almost the reverse. They missed a lot of shots down the stretch and we didn’t miss many.”
The Whalers were successful inside against Provincetown Saturday at home as Butler and Lawrence again each tallied a double-double. Butler dropped 22 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with five blocked shots, while Lawrence scored 20, collected 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“We always play P-Town tough. P-Town has a character that goes way back with us and them. They played well and they hit some pretty big shots down the stretch and they played well on the boards,” Almodobar said.
The Whalers used the press to take control early in the game, capitalizing on Fishermen turnovers in order to take a 13-6 lead after the first quarter. Provincetown kept pace in the second quarter as Nantucket took off the press and tried to slow things down.
“We were turning the ball over way too many times and we were trying to run and I was tired of that. We weren’t making very good decisions. We weren’t converting on our fast breaks. We were getting the shot up on the rim, but it wouldn’t go in. We just needed to break up the momentum a little bit, break up the tempo,” Almodobar said.
Nantucket had the 30-24 lead at the break. Provincetown made multiple runs at the Whalers’ lead in the second half, cutting the deficit to three points in the third quarter and six in the fourth, but Butler scored eight points and Lawrence added six in the final eight minutes of the game to seal the win.
With only a four-player bench Saturday, Troy Sullivan, Josh Sibley-Liddle, Carlton Hue and Sheldon Hislop contributed valuable minutes for the Whalers. Hue scored nine points, while Sullivan added three and Sibley-Liddle scored a bucket.
Nantucket was on fire at Cape Cod Academy Friday afternoon.
“We couldn’t miss a shot. I think we were up 17-1 in the first quarter,” Almodobar said. “Everything we were shooting was falling, whether it was inside or outside, it was falling in.”
Nantucket led 48-23 at the half en route to the win. The Whalers had five players in double figures in the game. Butler led the way with 19 points, Lawrence added 13, Eric Lowell and Hue scored 12 each and Chris Welch chipped in with 10.
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