Game one: Masco 62 Greater Lawrence 49
Despite the game being close throughout the first half, Masco’s effort and skill overmatched Greater Lawrence in the end, getting them the win, 62-49.
Greater Lawrence is a well-coached, high-energy team that wouldn’t give up easy buckets, but Masco had too many scorers to be stopped. The Chieftains had four players scoring double-digit points as junior Jamason Vella led the way with 15, junior captain Jimmy Farrell had 13 (all in the second half), senior captain Devin O’Brien with 12, and to cap it off sophomore Thomas Denton had 10.
It is clearly evident how deep this Masco team’s offense can truly be, with whichever five guys are on the court capable of scoring at any point. In this game, Masco’s aggression on the defensive and rebounding end was fantastic, and it allowed them to hold a steady lead.
Senior big man Hunter Rossi was a man amongst boys out there when it came to the glass; it seemed every time the ball was up for grabs, it was his. Rossi added some nice post play and hit some shots from the block getting him a career-high of nine points.
“Crashing the offensive boards was big today, getting every rebound, and just not giving a crap. That’s usually how I play,” said Rossi. “Today was a big day but tomorrow we have to fight against Winchester even harder and become 5-0.”
The big guys Vella and Rossi were complete difference makers using their size to their advantage down low. Both had defenders struggling to guard them and Farrell as well as other guards did a nice job hitting them when they were open.
“If people are impressed with just our shooting, they have no respect for our bigs. Our bigs are some of the best in the state, not just in Division 2, in all the state,” said head coach Jacob Morales. “I have so much respect for them and have enough faith and trust that I know they are capable of doing pretty much anything. On top of that, we can also shoot the ball, so pick your poison, we’ll be ready to go.”
Masco played their best game so far this season, not letting up and getting the job done on both ends of the court.
“Effort and heart completely showed in my team today as they have a lot of that in them. For them to come out there and absolutely manhandle them on the rebounding end was awesome,” said Morales. “Defensively, listening to scouting reports, playing together, and doing the little things was great to see them play that way on both sides of the court.”
With the win over Greater Lawrence and Winchester’s win over Medford, the two teams set to square off the next day (recap of the game below).
Game 2: Winchester 66 – Masco 41
Winchester shot the lights out and shot down Masco’s hopes of winning the Bob Bigelow tournament beating the Chieftains, 66-41.
Winchester is known for containing some awesome shooters but Sunday night, it seemed they couldn’t miss from beyond the arc. The Red and Black wasted no time getting to the bucket either, going up 20-7 to end the first quarter.
Masco had struggled on both sides of the ball in the first half. Head coach Jacob Morales made it clear that allowing 41 points in the first half is unacceptable and 17 points for the offense isn’t going to win them tough games.
In the second half, there was definitely an improvement in the defensive side but it seemed that with every shot Masco hit, Winchester came down and matched it.
Farrell was awarded player of the game for the Chieftains as each team has one player picked. Farrell finished Sunday night with 8 points and his senior co-captain O’Brien led the Chieftains with 14.
“We’ve acknowledged and reflected upon the loss and we know that the past is in the past so we’ve been trying to stay positive going into a big home game on Friday,” said O’Brien. “Every game is a stepping stone towards our ultimate goal, win or loss, so we gotta emphasize the bigger picture. All in all, we’ve positively moved past Sunday and we’ll be ready for Friday.”
Coming into this game undefeated, it was good to play a strong team in Winchester that exploited some weaknesses that will need to be improved down the road in crucial matchups against better teams.
“At the end of the day, life is simple and so is the game of basketball. When you get outplayed, outworked, and outmanned it doesn’t matter what you do on the offensive or defensive end, you’re going to lose battles and that’s what happened today,” said Morales. “Hats off to Winchester who is a well-coached team. They played harder than us, faster than us, and more together than us which is why they were victorious. We didn’t shoot the ball great but we didn’t deserve to be in that game with our team effort.
The Chieftains (4-1) have one of their biggest challenges yet with a crucial Northeast Conference matchup against Marblehead (3-1) this Friday on the Chieftains’ home court at seven.