Masco and Beverly prepared for battle Friday night, but Masco emerged victorious in front of their colossal home crowd, 64-58, and clinched sole ownership of the NEC title.
Going into this game, Masco had clinched, at the very least, splitting the NEC with Beverly if they lost to Beverly and Salem. However, with the win over the Panthers, Masco is the sole winner of the conference. Their remaining game with Salem on Tuesday does not hold value to the NEC, only playoff seeding.
To those who could not attend, I apologize. This game had high expectations and tensions were already built up coming in.
From around four minutes in and on, the Chieftains never gave up the lead and always kept Beverly at a safe distance, leading by 11 at the break.
Masco and Beverly contain two top players in the conference, junior captain Jimmy Farrell (Masco) and junior captain Jacob Klass (Beverly), and both showed up.
Each was limited in the field goals they hit from the floor, but both did a nice job getting to the line. Ultimately, Farrell’s play prevailed over Klass’s, as he guided his team to victory.
“Right from the jump we were playing good defense as a team and moving the ball well offensively. This was a strong team game and the energy from the bench and the crowd was electric,” said Farrell.
Farrell scored 24 points and was unguardable in the first three quarters. He hit two threes, got to the cup, and did his classic pull-up middie. He also did a fantastic job drawing fouls near the bucket and made an astounding 10 of 11 free throws.
“The key against their good defenders was protecting the ball and playing physical, and when the refs aren’t calling many fouls, we just had to adjust to that. Tonight I was looking to get to my spot and if I was open, I was shooting it, but if the defense collapses, that’s a kick-out. I thought we moved the ball extremely well,” he said.
Masco had many starters and bench guys step into big shoes in this game. Senior big man Hunter Rossi was an animal down low, defensively, and rebounding.
The combo defense on Klass of junior guards Cal Weidman and Ryan Richardson was fantastic as they made him take some uncomfortable shots and shoot inefficiently from the field. Just when Beverly was making their run to come back in the third quarter, Weidman buried a three off of a kick-out and ended that.
Masco senior captain and sharp-shooter Devin O’Brien knocked down three big triples out of the Chieftains’ seven from downtown. His ability to stretch the floor not only gets him great looks from beyond the arc, but also opens up the space for his teammates to slash to the bucket.
“We set this goal at the beginning of the season and it feels awesome to finally achieve it,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien leads the team with 37 three-pointers on the season and averages 12.3 points per game.
“We’ve still got a tournament run to go on, but overall, winning this game checks off a box for one of our goals from the start,” he said.
Masco forwards, junior Jamason Vella and sophomore Thomas Denton, were also huge contributors to the win. Denton has been playing like an all-star in this second half of the season and had nine points Friday night. Vella, the North Shore’s top rebounder, recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
Masco was able to control the glass fairly well and got better as the night went on. The defensive effort was fantastic to hold a team of Beverly’s caliber to only 58 points.
“We took on the pride of being a tough, gritty team that is willing to do the little things that make us successful regardless of what it is,” said head coach Jaycob Morales. “Sometimes it is the little things that don’t show up in the stat sheet that end up winning us games, and there were plenty of little things we did out there.”
Despite only scoring two field goals in the fourth quarter, the Chieftains’ aggressive mentality of attacking the basket led them to the stripe for 12 free throws, and they hit an impressive nine.
Most of the players on each team may never play in front of a crowd that big again. The Chieftain fans were difference makers in this game as they roared in all white.
Not only does this win mean Masco gets to hang the year 2025 on the banner, but this win holds more value as it sends a message to the Masconomet community and the North Shore basketball community that Chieftain basketball is back on top.
“This is about making this community proud of us. These kids have put in a ton of work these last few years and especially these last few months where we came together and abided by the motto of it’s a we thing, not a me thing,” said Morales. “I’m so happy for the boys getting to enjoy this type of moment in this type of atmosphere, and lucky enough for me, I got to experience these moments when I was younger, so I know what it means and the memories it leaves that these kids will never forget.”
The Chieftains now set their sights on potentially climbing a few spots in the playoff bracket with the outcome of a win against Salem. This game is shaping up to be close, as Salem is red hot. These two teams square off at seven in the Salem High School gym.
Score by quarter:
1st: M 18 B 12
2nd: M 20 B: 15
3rd: M 13 B: 14
4th: M 13 B: 17
Masco leading scorers: Farrell 24 pts, Vella 11 pts, O’Brien 10 pts, Denton 9 pts
Beverly leading scorers: Klass 22 pts, Saas 15 pts, Will Ryan 12 pts