By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The boys varsity basketball team capped off a stellar second half of the season last Wednesday by beating Mashpee 69-37 at home in its final regular-season game of the year.
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Photo by Bevin Bixby
Delroy Lawrence drives to the hoop against Mashpee’s Franco Stevens during last Wednesday’s final regular season game. The Whalers won 69-37 and enter the Division IV South postseason tournament as the sixth seed. |
The win capped off a successful 9-1 streak over the final 10 games after the boys posted a 5-5 mark to open the schedule. The Whalers finished the regular season 14-6 and secured the sixth seed in the Division IV South postseason tournament. Nantucket will open the playoffs at home against South Shore Voke today at 5:30 p.m.
The Whalers, who are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time, could see a match-up against third-seeded Avon in the quarterfinal round of the tournament if they get by South Shore.
“I am really happy with the six seed,” head coach Beau Almodobar said. “I like where we are. I know Avon is a tough team, but you have to play a tough team, you have to play one, two or three sooner or later.”
But first up for the Whalers will be the familiar Vikings, a team Nantucket has beaten twice this season, 69-55 on the road and 71-39 at home. In the game at South Shore, Viking Jayson Sullivan dropped 30 points against the Whalers.
“I don’t like to play guys three times. We did beat them twice, but they have a couple good athletes,” Almodobar said. “(Sullivan) is a slasher. He is one of those guys that likes to get into the paint and create. It is going to be a good game. It is not one we can let down on.”
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Photo by Bevin Bixby
WHALER PRIDE: Senior T.C. Montgomery shows his Whaler Pride at the start of the Nantucket varsity boys basketball game against Mashpee Wednesday. The Whalers won the final game of the regular season 69-37. |
Wednesday’s victory over tournament-bound Mashpee assured the Whalers home-court advantage in the first round. Three teams – Nantucket, Cathedral and Holbrook – each had identical records and a coin flip determined seeding, Almodobar said. A loss could have dropped the Whalers to the eighth seed.
The win was also sweet revenge for a 69-58 loss to the Falcons in the first game of the season.
“It is really a testament that these kids are getting better from the beginning of the season to the end of the season. That was our first game of the season. We really came out (Wednesday) and played some good pressure defense and we were hitting a lot of shots and a lot of fast-break points,” Almodobar said.
The Whalers opened on fire as Delroy Lawrence and Josh Butler dominated inside and contributed 12 points each in the first half.
“That tells me that they are hitting the good inside shots. We are trying to be more of an inside-out game, especially early. If we can do that early, our outside shots will open up and that’s what happened. We really dominated the inside. There were a lot of paint points and that can wear down a defense,” Almodobar said.
Jordan Ferreira also knocked down nine points, including a three-pointer as the Whalers led 21-4 after the first quarter and 38-14 at the half.
Nantucket kept up the intensity in the second half, as Evan Hourihan and Tomas Smaliorius each hit three-pointers and Mike Aucoin and Ferreira combined for a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line to maintain the lead.
Butler finished with a game-high 20 points for Nantucket. Lawrence scored 16, Ferreira scored 11 and Aucoin contributed nine points in the win.
Michael Martin led Mashpee as its only scorer in double figures with 15 points.
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