Sports Roundup: Boys Hoops Beats Monomoy At Home
David Creed •
This week’s Whaler sports roundup includes an update on the boys basketball team after they beat the Monomoy Sharks at home, as well as updates on the girls basketball team following a road victory and the indoor track team after their meet in Wheaton.
Boys Hoops Holds Off Sharks To Improve To 4-2
The boys basketball team improved to 4-2 this season with a 66-55 victory over the Monomoy Sharks at home Tuesday afternoon - led by sophomore Burke Lombardi’s 21 points, senior Vallon Jeanty’s 15 points, and senior Gaven Smith’s 14 points.
"I'm still having a hard time figuring out who's going to play," head coach Willis Ferreira said. "I need seven guys on the floor, and I can only put five out there. Each one does something different that we need. You take him out, then you gain something else but then you need that, so who do you take out? It's been a little tough for me trying to figure out some sort of rotation and how it works. Ryder (Tartamella) needs to be in there. He didn't play that much today. I thought Yuri (Saunders), that was Yuri's best game. I thought he rebounded like he was supposed to, and any offense we get from him is a plus, right? The main guys are going to score. That's what happens. We just need other guys to do other things, whether that's defense, rebound, pass. Overall, I'm happy with this group. We're still learning. We got to get better still. We take some tough shots sometimes when we don't need to."
Nantucket led 41-30 at halftime, but it was a lead the Whalers felt was smaller than it should have been. Ferreira preached to his team during his halftime talk to come out strong and assert their will on the Sharks in the second half’s opening minutes to take control of the game.
“I thought they did everything that I asked them to do," Ferreira said of his team's performance. "We could have had a bigger lead at the half, but we came out of the half talking about letting them back in or stomping on the throat because they're a team that's kind of struggling with wins. So they're a little negative, and so you got to make them negative. So when we got (our lead) to 20, it felt really good.”
The Whalers were able to get their lead as high as 21 points following an 11-0 run in the first two minutes, and never looked back from there despite Monomoy continuing to hang around - keeping it a 10 to 12 point game in the final quarter and trimming the deficit to as little as seven points late thanks to some careless turnovers and poor shot selections by Nantucket.
“We kind of (started to take) some weird shots, tough shots, and guys were a little more selfish,” Ferreira said about Monomoy being able to creep their way back into the game. “Then the shots didn't fall, and then they were able to get a couple here and there and get it back to 16 and 14, and then we'd go back, and then kind of just stayed around there. But anytime you play a league game, and you can win, I think that's huge.”
Nantucket has a busy week ahead, and their next game is scheduled for Thursday, January 8th at home against Cape Cod Academy – with tip-off scheduled for 5 p.m. You can view more photos from Nantucket's win over the Monomoy Sharks here.
Girls Hoops Beats Sturgis East
The girls basketball team improved their record to 2-3 this season following a 51-29 victory on the road against the Sturgis East Storm.
Marin Mooney continued her stellar start to the season with an 18-point performance, followed by Grace Schroeder (12 points) and Chloe Washington (10 points) who provided the secondary scoring and have been consistent through the team's first five games as well.
Whaler head coach Angela Paterson was pleased with the victory and how her team played – adding that the program’s promising young freshman guard Ruby Steadman had a great game controlling the court.
Steadman has handled a lot of responsibility to begin her first varsity season manning the point, and her contributions haven't just been her intangibles. She has also contributed on the scoresheet as a dependable scorer when needed, and should only continue to leave her mark on games more and more as the year goes on.
After losing their first three games, Nantucket has now won two straight against the Storm and Martha’s Vineyard by a combined score of 97-57. They will try to improve their record to .500 when they host the Rising Tide Heron on Friday, January 9th at 5 p.m.
Indoor Track Competes In Meet Against Nauset
The Nantucket indoor track team faced Nauset in a meet at Wheaton College Tuesday afternoon. While Nantucket lost 78-21, head coach Matthew Phipps said it was a pretty good performance given it was just the team’s second day back from the winter break.
Whalers who finished in the Top 3 of their category include:
Anna Cronin placed second in the two mile with a time of 13:20.31 and third in the women’s 1 mile with a time of 5:51.59.
Grace Hanlon placed second in the women’s 1000 meter with a time of 3:24.38.
Michael Sullivan placed second in the men’s two miles with a time of 11:25.02.
Other notable times include:
Brian Kimball placed sixth in the men’s 1000 meter with a time of 3:14.90.
Tahirak Suragdeen placing seventh in the women’s 300 meter with a time of 47.86 and Viktoria Bozhkova placing 10th with a time of 50.02.
Travon James placed seventh in the long jump with a personal record of 17-09.50.
Michael Sullivan placed seventh in the men’s one mile with a time of 5:18.25.
Dorian Manov placed seventh in the men’s 1000 meter with a time of 3:17.45.
Alex Horton placing 10th in the men’s 300 meter with a time of 41.10.
Nicholas Ferrantella placed 11th in the men’s 1000 meter with a time of 3:24.01.
Nolan Stratman placed 12th in the Shot Put (12 LB) with a personal record of 29-03.00.
Alex Horton placed 12th in the long jump with a season record of 16-03.75.
Numa Solano placing 13th in the men’s 600 meter with a time of 1:46.43.
Daniella Morris placing 13th in the women’s 600 meter with a time of 2:11.44.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Wednesday, January 7th:
The girls hockey team will host Barnstable at 5:15 p.m.
The boys hockey team will be on the road playing St. John Paul II at 4 p.m.
Thursday, January 8th:
The boys basketball team will be at home playing Cape Cod Academy at 5 p.m.
The boys & girls swim teams will be on the road for a meet against the Sandwich Blue Knights at 4 p.m.