Mashpee Boys' Basketball Prevails In Physical Battle

By: Rich Maclone
Published: 12/28/12

 The South Shore League is known for physical basketball games, and the Mashpee and East Bridgewater boys’ teams did nothing to take away from that reputation on Friday night. Knowing that the Falcons are capable of running away with a game, the Vikings did everything that they could to slow the pace, and they accomplished that goal. They were not able to beat the Falcons, though. Despite a game that featured nearly as many foul calls as made baskets and a skirmish late in the game that led to the ejection of two Mashpee bench players, the Falcons prevailed in a tough contest, 46-35.

“It was a very physical game. They had a good game plan and they gave us nothing easy and did a good job of getting back and jammed up our running game,” Mashpee Head Coach Rick Boulrisse said. “We didn’t lose sight of our game plan or our defensive effort, though. They slowed it down, but our kids answered the call.”

Mashpee improved to 4-0 overall with the win and 3-0 in the SSL. East Bridgewater’s focal point on the defensive end was not allowing MHS big man Nakia Hendricks to beat them. Hendricks, who had gone for 29 points in his previous outing, faced a box-and-one all night, with EB throwing help defenders at him whenever he touched the ball. The ploy helped the Vikings keep the lanky big man in check as he had just 11 points—which led the Falcons—but it was not enough to overcome Mashpee on the other end of the floor.

While the Vikings were doing so much on the defensive end to keep the score down, they struggled against Mashpee’s defense, which was also quite effective. MHS did not break out any gimmicks. They simply stayed with their man-to-man approach to the game and it worked well. MHS gave up just 15 points in the first half and enjoyed a double-digit lead most of the way.

“They had it down to nine late in the third quarter, but we got a basket and then a quick stop and then another basket just before the buzzer, and all of a sudden (the lead) went from nine to 13. That gave us a big boost, and you could see the momentum swing for us,” Boulrisse said. “We weathered a storm. They came out (to start the game) really emotional and they made it ugly, and we fought through and did a nice job. Offense was hard to come by, but we got enough.”

Kevin Frye was the second leading scorer in the game for the Falcons. The guard, who gave a good effort on both ends of the court, had 10 points in the game, a season-high. Senior forward Scott Matoian also played well on both ends of the court. The Falcon Swiss Army Knife, who does a little bit of everything in each game, had eight points to go along with a nice job on the glass and on his defensive marks. Forward Malik Lee had seven points in the game. Mashpee played last night in the first round of the Stripes Tournament against Nauset High School. The Falcons will host tomorrow’s action. The consolation game will be played at 5 PM and the championship is at 7 PM.

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