EASTHAM — When the Nauset Regional High School boys basketball team faced the Martha’s Vineyard High team in a season-opening game on the road, the Warriors came away with a 65-61 win. In Monday’s rematch at home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Nauset was less fortunate.
The Warriors were 4-5 heading into the game, and the Vineyarders were 4-6. It was a tough first half for the Warriors, as they couldn’t get much going on the offensive end. The Vineyarders won the tip and went up 5-0 to start. With 24 seconds left in the first quarter, Vineyarders sophomore guard Jacoby Light banked in a three pointer and casually shrugged. It was a good afternoon for Light, who tallied 13 points.
The referees called a tight game. The Warriors had four team fouls late in the first quarter as the Vineyarders picked apart their 2-3 zone defense.
The Vineyarders kept pouring it on in the second quarter, with senior guard Xavier Clarke hitting two threes from the left corner, leaving his “dead fish” follow through up on the second. Clarke’s threes put the Vineyarders up by 20, 26-6, with six minutes to go in the period.
Two free throws off a technical foul call and a layup on the other end by six-foot-six sophomore Landon Lepine soon put the Vineyarders up by 26. Lepine led the Vineyarders with 16 points off eight field goals.
Warriors guard Joe Berardi sank a three from the right corner, but Clarke responded with one of his own. The halftime score was lopsided, with the Vineyarders up 39-9.
Berardi picked up his second technical foul midway through the third quarter, but it seemed to ignite his teammates’ competitive spirit. A full court press by the Warriors forced a turnover leading to a layup on the other end.
Nauset forward Jon Bienvenue drifted into the lane and slipped a pass to guard Jake Daley, who hit a three from the wing. Another three by Daley cut the deficit to 25. But the Vineyarders responded with their own suffocating full-court press, and Nauset had no answer to Lepine down low.
Bienvenue was held scoreless, but the numbers belie the effect he had on the game with his ability to find gaps in the Vineyarders’ zone and facilitate scoring opportunities for his teammates. His svelte passing and Daley’s shooting helped Nauset stage a small comeback early in the fourth quarter.
Daley sank a three with 4:50 to go in the game to cut the lead to 17. But the starting five for the Vineyarders proved to be too much. Clarke, Light, and sophomore guard Leo Napior moved through open spaces, creating passing lanes for each other.
The Vineyarders’ offensive rebounding allowed them to run out the clock. Nevertheless, the Warriors managed to cut the visitors’ lead to 16 for a respectable final score of 56-40.
The Vineyarders’ Jacoby Light said the win “felt good, especially after losing to them early in the season.”
“I wasn’t expecting us to come out that hot, but we’ve been on fire the last couple games,” said Lepine.
“It was a tough one for us in the first half, but we just tried to play hard regardless of the score,” said Nauset Coach Kevin Harrigan. “We came out too flat. We have to make the other team play at our tempo.”
Harrigan said high school basketball really comes down to three things: limiting turnovers, rebounding, and generating good open looks.
Harrigan has been involved with the Nauset basketball program for seven years, and this is his third as head coach. The Warriors were looking ahead to a scheduled Wednesday night match-up at home with Bishop Feehan, a top-10 team in the state. Bishop Feehan won easily in an earlier contest, 80-48.
The Warriors play at Dennis-Yarmouth on Friday and then face Falmouth on Jan. 28 in a home match.
