Playing for the last time this season in their home gym, Masco prevailed over Middleboro on Tuesday night, winning 77-58 in front of a sold-out crowd.
The atmosphere in this gym was probably one of the most exciting that Masconomet has seen in many years. Students were decked out for the USA theme, and the whole community came out to support this special basketball run.
“The fans and the whole community help out a ton. There’s nothing better than making a big stop on defense or scoring a basket and hearing your home crowd roaring like that, so that definitely played a huge factor for us in both playoff games,” said sophomore forward Thomas Denton.
Something super evident to the naked eye even in the pregame layup lines was the sheer size advantage the Chieftains had. Middleboro’s guards and even forwards didn’t come close to matching the height of Masco’s players, except their skilled center, who was 6’6.
Despite the size of Middleboro’s players, they fought hard and were strong athletes, giving the Chieftains a little run for their money in the first quarter and, primarily, the whole first half. In the opening half, Masco was unsuccessful in capitalizing on the size advantage in the paint, where they couldn’t generate much.
The man responsible for never letting Middleboro get within real striking distance in the first half was none other than junior star captain Jimmy Farrell. Farrell put on quite the show in the first half, scoring 17 of Masco’s 34 points with his quick takes to the cup and his signature deadly pull-up mid-range.
“The keys to success were defending with a purpose and sharing the ball on offense. In the second half, we didn’t let up any offensive rebounds, which came from our commitment and effort on the defensive end,” said Farrell.
Farrell ended with a game-high of 24 points and had a wild seven steals on defense.
His co-captain, senior sniper Devin O’Brien, balled out as well as he teed up six triples from downtown and finished with 22 points himself along with grabbing eight boards. O’Brien has hit a team-high 48 three-pointers this season. Both Farrell and O’Brien are averaging 19.5 points apiece in the playoffs and look to stay hot.
The third quarter was where the Chieftains wore down the Sachems defense and started to pull away. Vella, the North Shore’s leading rebounder (10.4), was able to get his inside game going with eight points in the paint in the third quarter alone and finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Denton was also a huge second-half contributor with 10 of his 12 coming in the final half. Denton played a complete game with nine rebounds and seven assists as well, and a strong defensive presence, including an awesome pin-block against the backboard in the fourth quarter. Denton is a true three-level scorer as only just a sophomore and has done a fantastic job carving out a big role on both sides of the ball.
“It’s really just the confidence from my teammates and coaches that they instill in me, which helps keep me going strong on the court,” said Denton.
Chieftain players senior Hunter Rossi, junior Cal Weidman, and junior Ryan Richardson were indispensable on defense in this contest. Rossi was a man amongst boys out there, grabbing eight boards and blocking a few shots. Weidman saw the ball go through the bottom of the net a couple of times for five points and added four steals. Richardson also played stellar defense , picking up two steals of his own.
“At the end of the day, it’s not about that we shot the ball well in the second half, it’s that we shared the ball well in the second half. I think when we share the ball, teams can’t guard all of our weapons; they must make a decision across the board, and we’ll be able to find the open guy throughout the game,” said head coach Jaycob Morales. “Now it’s about moving forward. I told these guys, it’s the first time in a long time, so enjoy this night but take pride in what we can accomplish as we go forward with the motto, ‘Why not us?’”
With the win, the Chieftains are now headed back to the elite eight for the first time since 1986 and look to pick up their 17th straight victory.
Masco now looks to take on a powerhouse, the number two seeded Mansfield, who went 18-4 this season.
Mansfield seems similar to Masco in the sense that they contain many quick guards that can shoot the lights out on any given night and have some skilled bigs.
“Going into Mansfield, we need to make sure that we play a complete game,” said Farrell. “Against Hopkinton, we came out strong but didn’t finish strong and against Middleborough, we came out slow and ended well. Our focus going into the game is to play that full complete game of 32 minutes that will send us to the final 4.”
Tipoff for this two vs seven battle begins at 6:30 sharp, where two top dogs will battle it out as Masco comes into the game with one thought in their head: “Why not us?”
Score by quarter:
1st: MA 18 MI 14
2nd: MA 16 MI: 12
3rd: MA 23 MI: 15
4th: MA 20 MI: 17
Masco leading scorers: Farrell 24 pts, O’Brien 22 pts, Denton 12 pts, Vella 10 pts