Whaler Sports Roundup: Boys Hoops Lose Season Opener, Girls Swim Wins Again

There were no sports games on Monday, however several teams were in action on Tuesday including the boys basketball team, the boys and girls swim teams, the indoor track team, and the girls basketball team.

Boys Hoops Shut Down By Bourne In Home Opener

The Whaler boys basketball team opened their season on Tuesday against the Bourne Canalman, one of the top programs in Div. 4, and the Canalman showed the Whalers they have a lot to work on in the weeks and months ahead if they hope to make a deep tournament run this winter.

Bourne beat Nantucket 66-39 and the game was never in much doubt. The Whalers trailed 17-8 after one quarter and after an alley-oop dunk by Nantucket senior captain Jack Halik from senior Chris Simpson to make it a 19-14 with 5:27 left in the second quarter, the Canalmen never let Nantucket get any closer. They dominated the remainder of the half by outscoring Nantucket 12-2 to take a 31-16 lead into halftime.

“Everything that we have done for two weeks, we didn't do it once (tonight),” Whaler head coach Willis Ferreira said. “In a timeout I went over an out of bounds play and we go back out there and we have no idea what I'm talking about. No freaking idea. None. Zero, not one of them. So, it's a little disappointing.”

Halik finished the first half with 13 of the Whaler’s 16 points and finished the game with 16 points overall after he was forced to watch large spurts of the game from the bench after getting into foul trouble.

Nantucket’s offense appeared to be quite stagnant throughout the course of the game with very little ball movement as opposed to Bourne, who moved the ball with ease and set up several pretty baskets inside the paint thanks to their crisp, smart passing and movement. The Canalmen outscored Nantucket 35-23 in the second half.

"Did I expect to come in here and win today? Maybe, but I wanted to play well and we didn't we didn't,” Ferreira said. “I think you got to give credit to Bourne. They were a final four team for a reason. They got mostly everybody back. They are well coached, they ran their stuff and beat us down the floor, killed us on the glass.

“We got to get tougher mentally and physically,” Ferreira added. “I knew it wasn't going to be easy.”

Senior guard Dwayne Martin, who played in his first game since tearing his ACL last season, got hot in the third quarter and hit three 3-point shots for nine points in the quarter. Sophomore guard Amare Bramwell showed tenacity on the offensive boards that should benefit this team moving forward as well.

Nantucket will get right back at it on Thursday, December 14 when they host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins at 5 p.m.

Girls Swim Wins, Boys Lose Against Nauset

The Whaler girls swim team continued their strong start to the season on Tuesday – beating the Nauset Warriors 95-74 while the boys lost 91-56.

Nantucket head coach Dylan Jones said coming into the season his team had told him Nauset is tough and that this was a meet his team had been talking a lot about ahead of the year.

"I thought it was going to be much more of a grind and not that it wasn't but like there's potential for it to be much closer particularly since they had two relays in the last event and we just had one,” he said. “Relays can swing, point wise, a lot. So it was a heck of a win for the girls.”

As for the boys, Jones felt like their loss was a product of their thin numbers rather than how they performed in the pool.

"I don't think the final score for the boys is indicative of how well they swam,” he said. “They only lost due to volume of swimmers, not by our quality of swimming or being outworked or anything. It's pure volume.”

Jones said that while Jake Johnson and Eli MacIver have served as his versatile swimmers who take part in a variety of relays and events, he was quick to point out the efforts of D’Marco Lewis, Robert Graves, and Pavlin Aleksiev for quickly settling into their roles and producing first and second place finishes in their swims.

Jones gave a nod to Sutton LeBrecht, who swam the 100 yard breaststroke and placed third in the event despite not being particularly keen about partaking in that swim. He said those points earned from her placement helped secure the victory on Tuesday.

Jones added that in the 500 yard freestyle, Evie Phelps and Hannah Harrington swam well and were able to place first and second respectively – clinching more valuable points in a difficult swim that ultimately proved to be key in Nantucket taking home the win.

The Whalers next meet will be on Friday, December 22 when they host Martha’s Vineyard at 2 p.m.

Indoor Track Travels To Nauset

The Nantucket Indoor Track Team traveled to Nauset on Tuesday for a meet with the Warriors. The boys lost 65-25 while the girls lost 94-4.

Nantucket head coach Chris Miemiec said afterwards that some of the key times included Rory Murray, who placed first in the 1 mile (5:23.91 min) and 1000m (3:11.07 min), Jaiden McInnis – who placed first in the 55m (6.849 secs) and second place in the 300m (38.88), Virginia Graham – who placed third in the 600m (2:13.88), and Danielle Lewis – who placed third in Shot Put (6.83m).

The track team will compete agains on Saturday, December 16 in the Winter Speed Classic.

Girls Basketball Loses To SJP

The Whaler girls basketball team went on the road to face St. John Paul II on Tuesday – losing 52-22 to the Lions. It was an overall frustrating day for Nantucket, but they were led in scoring by junior Maddie Lombardi (10 points) and Mani Tavares (six points).

The Whalers are now 0-3 this season but will have a chance to earn their first win of the season on Friday, Dec. 15 when they host the Monomoy Sharks for a 5 p.m. game.

SCHEDULE AHEAD:

Wednesday, December 13:

The Boys Hockey Team (0-1) will host one of the top teams in Div. 3, the Nauset Warriors (1-0), at 5 p.m. today at Nantucket Ice. The Whalers lost their first and only game 3-2 to Norwell on Sunday. Nauset meanwhile beat the Sandwich Blue Knights 7-3 on Dec. 9. This is the only game on the schedule for Wednesday.

Thursday, December 14:

The Boys Basketball Team will be at home seeking their first win of the season against the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins. The Dolphins are 1-0 this season and beat Cape Cod Academy 88-42 on Tuesday.

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