Sports Roundup: Boys Hoops Beats Martha's Vineyard In Season Opener
David Creed •
The first Whaler sports roundup of the winter is led by an update on the boys basketball team after they beat Martha’s Vineyard on Sunday to kick off their season, as well as updates on the girls basketball team, the boys hockey team, and the swim teams.
Smith Scores 19 In Boys Hoops Opener To Knock Off Martha’s Vineyard
The boys basketball team went into Sunday’s home game against Martha’s Vineyard with a clear disadvantage when it came to size, but the Whaler’s speed and athleticism was on full display in their 67-60 victory over the Vineyarders to kick off their regular season in as good a way as possible.
"We can shoot it when we shoot it," Whaler head coach Willis Ferreira said. "When we're knocking down threes, we're really tough. I thought our pressure bothered them in the first half. Guys like Joao (Silva) and Amare (Bramwell) and Ryder (Tartamella) were huge. We went small, and it was to our advantage. We had a hard time guarding their big (Landen Lepire, 27 points) but we knew that coming in, we were hoping we could hold him to 20 and then try to keep it with some of those other guys. They got one good shooter (Jacoby Light), and he was in foul trouble early.”
The Vineyard jumped out to a 12-8 lead with 3:22 to go in the first quarter, prompting Ferreira to call a timeout and gather his team together. Ferreira preached energy during the stoppage and his team responded by ending the opening quarter with an 18-16 lead.
The Whaler’s second quarter was their best quarter of the game. They jumped out to a 29-20 lead with 5:12 left in the first half, which led to a Martha’s Vineyard timeout. Entering halftime, the Whalers led 39-25 with Joao Silva leading the Whalers with 10 first half points (finished with 17 in the game).
“We got to defend better, but I thought overall it was a good first game,” Ferreira said. “I thought our effort was great. I thought Joao was really good. He's solid. If he just does what he's supposed to do, he's solid. He's a good defender. He can make layups. He made a couple threes for us.”
The Vineyard began to claw their way back into the game in the third quarter, but the Whalers never let their lead get trimmed lower than eight points. Silva and Burke Lombardi each scored five points in the third to help preserve the lead.
Senior guard Gaven Smith, who dropped a team-high 19 points for Nantucket, scored 12 second half points on four three-point shots. Predominantly a member of Nantucket’s second unit last winter off the bench, Smith got the start and made the most of it – impressing Ferreira and showing him it would be wise to give him more starts moving forward.
“I don’t know what Gav ended up with, but he had some big shots for us,” Ferreira said. “Gav did what Gav does. When we needed big shots, he made them for us to keep it an eight, nine point game and get it back to 12 points.”
Smith made three of his four second half threes in the final quarter to seal the game for Nantucket. As a whole, the team’s relentless defense and full court press caused Martha’s Vineyard headaches all afternoon as they attempted to bring the ball up the court.
"We just got to continue to get better," Ferreira said. "First game, the Vineyard, a lot of jitters early. It was slow to start, but once we got it rolling, we were pretty good. Second half, we couldn't really stop them as much. On offense sometimes when we pass the ball to each other, we're pretty good, but we start getting a little we want to get ours, and that's when we turn it over and miss crazy shots, contested shots. I like open shots. We got to learn from that. We talked about losing a lot of games last year with leads. I thought these guys really handled themselves pretty good down stretch, for the most part. We took a couple of dumb shots but overall, we handled the end well.”
Nantucket’s next game is scheduled for Wednesday, December 17th at home against Falmouth High School at 5 p.m.
Steadman's 13 Points Not Enough In Girls Hoops Road Loss To Martha's Vineyard
The girls basketball team was on the road playing Martha’s Vineyard Sunday afternoon to kick off their winter season and the coaching career of Angela Paterson. The Whalers are incorporating some younger players into the lineup and nearly stole one on the road before Martha’s Vineyard pulled away with a 36-32 victory.
The Whalers were led in scoring by freshman point guard Ruby Steadman, who finished with 13 points. Grace Schroeder finished with six points while Marin Mooney and Quinn Canty each scored five points.
The Whalers will play their first home game of the winter on Tuesday, December 16th at 4 p.m. against Falmouth Academy.
Boys Hockey Loses Home Opener To Martha's Vineyard
The boys hockey team opened their season Sunday afternoon at home against Martha’s Vineyard, but were unable to earn a victory and lost 9-1.
The only goal for the Whalers was scored by senior captain Jeremy Jenkinson, who was able to steal the puck in front of the net and lift it top shelf in the third period to erase the goose egg on the board.
Nantucket will try to move past this one and win their first game of the winter when they host the Bourne Canalmen on Wednesday, December 17th at 5:15 p.m. You can view more photos from this game as well as the boys basketball game here.
Boys & Girls Swim Place Third In Relay Carnival
The boys and girls swim teams traveled to Sandwich High School to compete in the Cape & Island Relay Carnival Saturday morning and despite missing nine swimmers including all of their senior female swimmers, both teams placed third in the meet.
Whaler head coach Dylan Jones said that he thought the meet went well considering how many swimmers they were missing and described it as a solid showing. He said there were some good swims but also some things they will need to address in practice.
Some of the notable results include:
- Leila Noddin, Zoli Day, Evie Phelps, and Harper LeBrecht placed first in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 2:06.94
- Harper LeBrecht, Eli MacIver, Inna Nikolova, and Andrick Mooney placed first in the mixed 200 yard butterfly relay with a time of 2:03.29
- Evie Phelps, Eli MacIver, Inna Nikolova, and Markus Vitanov placed first in the mixed 200 yard breaststroke relay with a time of 2:17.69.
Jones added that he felt the rookie swimmers performed well and took a good first step to start their first seasons as varsity swimmers. You can view the full list of results here.
Nantucket’s first official meet of the regular season will be on Tuesday, December 16th on the road against Martha’s Vineyard at 3 p.m.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, December 15th:
No games are scheduled for this date.
Tuesday, December 16th:
The girls track team will face Falmouth at 3 p.m. while the boys track team will face Monomoy at 3 p.m.
The boys and girls swim teams will be on the road for a meet against Martha’s Vineyard at 3 p.m.
The girls basketball team will host Falmouth Academy at 4 p.m.