Author: Ryan Lanigan

Ryan Lanigan is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of HockomockSports.com. You can contact him at RyanLanigan@hockomocksports.com and follow him on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.

King Philip Rolls Past Agawam Into Round of 16

King Philip baseball Matt Kelley
King Philip senior Matt Kelley celebrates with teammates after scoring a run in the first inning. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 WRENTHAM, Mass. — Having not played an actual game in two weeks, it was fair to wonder if the King Philip baseball team would show any signs of rust in its playoff opener against Agawam.

The third-seeded Warriors quickly erased that notion with some early offense and cruised to a comfortable 12-1 win over the 35th-seeded Brownies in a Division 2 Round of 32 clash at Lombard Field.

KP pushed across three runs in the first inning, created a big lead with five more runs in the second, and reached double digits with a pair in the third.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Meanwhile, senior ace Rudy Gately worked around some early threats from Agawam, stranding runners at second and third in the first inning with one out, and then again in the second inning after allowing back-to-back hits to lead off. Gately earned the win, striking out six with four hits and one walk allowed in three innings.

“Having two weeks, we really tried to stay fresh at practice,” said King Philip head coach Jeff Plympton. “We brought some past guys in and had our own guys throw live, so I was happy with how the bats responded today. I think that was one of the better hitting performances we’ve had this year. It was good to get all those guys, all those arms in, and get them an inning.”

KP’s big lead allowed Plympton to get Gately out with under 65 pitches thrown. It also set the stage for four KP relievers to get an inning in relief: sophomore Nate Pennini struck out one and had one walk, junior Tommy McLeish was charged with an unearned run and had one strikeout, junior TJ Ahern only needed six pitches to get through a quick sixth inning, and junior Ian Knott struck out one in a scoreless seventh inning. Freshman Leo Dowling caught all seven innings for KP.

“We have depth, and we were throwing them in practice but it’s better to get them in live game situations,” Plympton said. “To be able to get Rudy out of this one, you know if we go on a run here, having him at 60 pitches in the first game is fantastic.”

Junior Max Robison set the table with a leadoff walk and senior Matt Kelley dropped a one-out single into shallow center to put a second runner on. Senior Tommy Martorano sliced an opposite field double that just fell fair for a two-run double to get the Warriors on the board. Sophomore Aiden Astorino followed with a dribbler that got by the pitcher, and Martorano scampered all the way home to make it 3-0.

A leadoff double from McLeish started things for KP in the second inning, and sophomore Cameron Hasenfus (walk) and Robison (singled) both reached to load the bases.

Senior Brendan Sencaj had a bloop single drop into shallow left to bring McLeish in but Hasenfus was tagged out at third after having to wait halfway. Kelley lined an RBI double for another run and sophomore Drew Herlin smashed a monster double to right to score two more. After advancing on a passed ball, Herlin scored on Martorano’s sac fly to center to make it 8-0 after just two innings.

“We have a good lineup, and some games it would flash and some games it wouldn’t but today, it all clicked together and it’s infectious,” Plympton said. “I think that playoff run last year really helps, and the familiarity of being in this situation. They are a confident bunch. We had a really good practice yesterday, probably the best of the season, which is good because of the long break since our last game.”

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Gately worked around a one-out double in the third, getting his sixth strikeout to end the inning. KP kept the momentum going in the bottom half when Hasenfus brought Gately (walk) home with a sac fly, and Robison’s RBI ground out plated McLeish (single) to make it 10-0.

Pennini recorded an RBI with an infield single that scored Martorano in the fourth inning, and Ahern reached on an error that allowed Herlin (walk) to come home to make it 12-1.

King Philip baseball (14-7) will meet a familiar foe in the Round of 16 as the Warriors will host Hockomock rival North Attleboro (8-13) on Wednesday at 3:45. The 19th-seeded Rocketeers upset #14 Duxbury, 2-1, on Monday.

King Philip Outlasts Taunton To Earn Share Of Division Title

King Philip softball Sarah Cullen
King Philip softball celebrate near home plate after Sarah Cullen’s game-winning hit in the 10th inning. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 WRENTHAM, Mass. – Entering Monday night’s marquee matchup between two of the best teams in all of Massachusetts, Taunton had already clinched at least a share of the Kelley-Rex division title.

King Philip wanted its share of the throne, too.

KP senior Sarah Cullen smacked an opposite field line drive to left that found its way to the fence and junior Taylor Regan hustled all the way from first to cross home plate in the bottom of the 10th inning, handing the Warriors a 1-0 walk-off win over the Tigers and a share of the league crown.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“Sometimes you just hit a ball, and you just know,” Cullen said. “It could have been anyone on this team though, everyone works so hard. I just happened to be the lucky one to get it done.

“We have all worked so hard for this but we really had to focus on keeping our nerves at a minimum. They are a great team as well. We knew we could do this but we had to carry a lot of energy and confidence into this one.”

The battle between two of the best squads in the state delivered as the game remained scoreless through seven innings, as well as the first two extra innings.

“You couldn’t ask for a better one, it was such a great game,” said King Philip head coach Kate Fallon-Comeau. “We really focus on one at-bat at a time but they were really excited coming off the field each inning, but they were able to really settle in and take it one at-bat at a time in that last inning.

“We knew if we won we’d get a share of the title but it wasn’t the first thing they were focused on. They come into every game and want to win, that’s the mentality they have every time out.”

KP freshman McCoy Walsh escape an early first inning jam and went on to toss one of the best games of her young career, allowing just two hits and three walks, striking out a career-high 17 in 10 scoreless innings of work.

Taunton junior Sam Lincoln was equally impressive, scattering five hits and no walks with 16 strikeouts and no earned runs allowed. Lincoln worked her way out of a couple of jams, including in the 8th inning when she stranded a runner at third after a two-out triple,

“We never want to lose a game but if there’s such thing as a good loss, this is it,” said Taunton head coach Michelle Raposo. “This is a good mental reset for us before the tournament. They wanted it a little more than we did tonight. We didn’t produce offensively through the lineup so we have some things we need to work on but it will prepare us for the postseason.”

The Tigers’ best chance was in the top of the first inning when Kyleah Plumb and Bella Bourque earned back-to-back walks to start the game and Kaysie DeMoura legged out an infield hit on a bunt to load the bases with no outs.

Regan came up with a massive diving catch at first on a bunt attempt for the first out, Walsh induced a grounder back to the circle and got the force out at home, and then picked up her first strikeout to escape unscathed.

“She started off the game with the bases loaded but she just battles, and she battled the entire way,” Fallon-Comeau said. “She has the whole team supporting her. Once she got that strikeout in the first to get out of that jam, I think she settled in and that really propelled her the rest of the game.”

KP’s first threat came in the third when Regan singled to center and took second on a sac bunt from Ava Lanza. Cullen’s first hit of the day put runners on the corners but Lincoln got back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame.

Freshman Ali Gill had a one-out single in the sixth and moved to second when senior Libby Walsh was hit by a pitch but once again Lincoln buckled down, getting a grounder to third for the force and another strikeout to finish the inning.

“We’ve been in that situation a couple of times but they buckle down and can get out of it,” Raposo said. “Whether it’s Sam’s pitching or the relying on our defense…they don’t get nervous and they are very confident defensively. We didn’t have Ava [Venturelli] tonight but our other kids should be able to produce and we just couldn’t string something together.”

“This was two good pitchers going at. Sam pitched a hell of a game and her defense was great. If there was any little error or a mistake, either team is capable to capitalize but there really wasn’t any of that.”

Both teams went quietly in the seventh, sending the game to extras. Taunton’s second hit came on a one-out single from Mia Torres but Walsh responded with consecutive strikeouts to squander the threat.

Gill nearly won the game in the bottom of the 9th when she drilled a shot to right but it hit high off the fence for a triple. Before KP could capitalize, Lincoln got a swinging strikeout to keep the game going.

DeMoura got a hold of one to start the 9th inning with a good hit to center but Cullen tracked back and made a leaping catch at the fence for the out, denying at least a double, potentially more.

“Sarah was like an overdue library book, she was due, she was ready,” Fallon-Comeau said. “She had that great catch in the top of the ninth and I felt really good about her next at-bat. She came back from the tough at-bat before and just ripped that one down the line.”

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

In the bottom of the 10th, Regan reached after an infield error. Cullen, who had struck out on a check swing in the 8th, laced the first pitch she saw to left for the winning hit.

“Something I really love about this team is that everyone picks each other up really quick,” Cullen said. “After that at-bat [in the 8th], they all picked me up and kept telling me I would get it the next time. When I went up there, I was just ready and had a good feeling about the first strike I saw.”

King Philip softball (15-1 Hockomock, 20-1 overall) finishes the regular season on Saturday with a date against Bridgewater-Raynham on Saturday at 1:00. Taunton (15-1, 18-1) hosts Bishop Feehan on Wednesday at 6:30.

Franklin Clinches Kelley-Rex With Win Over Taunton

Alfred Mucciarone Franklin baseball
Franklin senior Alfred Mucciarone celebrates after recording his 10th strikeout to seal the win over Taunton. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 FRANKLIN, Mass. — The Hockomock League runs through Franklin — again.

The Panthers clinched their fourth straight Kelley-Rex crown with a 7-4 verdict over rival Taunton, sweeping the season series against the Tigers and staying undefeated at 15-0.

The bottom of Franklin’s lineup spearheaded a six-run second inning and senior right-hander Alfred Mucciarone struck out 10 — his fifth double-digit strikeout performance in six starts — in a complete game effort.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“It’s a balancing act,” said Franklin head coach Zach Brown of dealing with all of the storylines surrounding the matchup with the Tigers, including a second rematch of last year’s Division 1 state championship. “Sometimes when you have all this motivation it can work against you in baseball. We have to trust our leadership and when you have these veterans, who are saying all the right things, it makes it easier.”

After leaving the bases loaded in the first, Franklin’s big offensive inning came an inning later. Senior and seven hitter Ethan DePaolo found a hole in the left side for a leadoff single and senior Luke Sidwell battled back after falling behind 0-2 to leg out an infield single. Senior Ryan Carlucci, inserted into the lineup at first base due to an injury, smoked the second pitch he saw to the base of the center field fence to plate the first run of the game.

“It just lengthens us,” Brown said of the production from the bottom of the lineup. “We were playing today without Benny Jarosz, and Ryan Carlucci comes up and has that big double, and he was really good the other day against King Philip too. The bottom part of our lineup has been really productive and they’re relentless with their at-bats. They go down two strikes and they battle away, extending at-bats, seeing more pitches. Sometimes they will go down but what they’ve done is made it easier for the next guys coming up. It’s a team approach to offense and those guys have really developed their own identity. We can do a lot of different things with them and they now know what we’re looking for from them and how they can be effective out there.

“The bottom part of our order is relentless and they got us going there. That gave our more veteran guys an opportunity with runners in scoring position. They’ve worked really hard, great attention to detail, and to see it pay off in games is rewarding.”

That set the stage for the heart of the lineup as leadoff hitter Ryan Gerety (Northeastern) ripped an opposite field double to bring in two. After a single from Jase Lyons, senior Eisig Chin (Stonehill) had a line drive to right — Franklin’s sixth straight hit — for another run. A balk brought a run home and junior Henry Digiorgio (Northeastern) had an RBI groundout to extend the lead to 6-0.

Franklin had only allowed a total of eight runs in its first 14 games so the big second inning certainly put the Panthers in prime position.

But Taunton answered quickly and kept it close the rest of the way. Junior Andrew Cali and senior braden Sullivan had back-to-back one-out singles before Mucciarone got the second out with a strikeout. Senior Dawson Bryce, who will be joining a slew of former Panthers next year at Merrimack, delivered the big hit as he smacked a three-run homer over the left field fence to make it 6-3.

The bottom half of Franklin’s lineup delivered again as Sidwell, the eight hitter, turned a routine base hit into a double with his speed in the bottom of the third. A groundout from Carlucci moved the runner to third and Sidwell came flying home on a wild pitch to give the Panthers another insurance run.

“All year, we’ve been able to limit damage but we knew coming in we wouldn’t be able to afford too many mistakes,” said Taunton head coach Blair Bourque.
“They made us pay the price and we have to do a better job of limiting it. Dawson’s swing got us back in it and we got a little momentum there but Mucciarone is the best pitcher in the state for a reason. We knew it’d be a dogfight and we’d have to be at our best but we weren’t good enough.”

Mucciarone didn’t have much trouble the rest of the way, retiring the side in order in the fourth (two strikeouts), working around a two-out walk to Ryan MacDougall in the sixth, and sat the Tigers down in order in the seventh, punctuated with his 10th strikeout.

Taunton was able to pull one back in the fifth when Cali reached on an error, stole second, took third on a throwing error, and came home to score on Sullivan’s groundout.

“He’s just a special competitor,” Brown said of Mucciarone, who improved to 6-0 on the year with 62 strikeouts. “He’s everything you’d want in an ace: he’s got great stuff, he has tremendous ability, but more importantly are all his intangibles. He’s a tremendous competitor, a great leader for our younger pitchers, and he does so much on a daily basis in our dugout. We’re thankful we have him, he can make you look like a good coach.”

As the Tigers battle some injuries to their rotation, they did get some positive innings from both MacDougall, who was making just his second appearance on the mound, and Bryce, who made his fourth relief appearance of the year.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

MacDougall allowed one hit and two walks, striking out two in two scoreless innings while Bryce had two strikeouts while pitching a shutout sixth inning.

“With Jack [Cali] and Shawn [Cali] injured, we’ve kind of had to rely on some other guys,” Bourque said. “We weren’t anticipating having to use Ryan too much on the mound but we’ve had to start to have him throw some bullpens. Dawson’s been able to come in all year, and we’re being cautious with his arm, and his stuff is electric but we can’t use him much more.”

Franklin baseball (13-0 Hockomock, 15-0 overall) is back home on Tuesday evening to take on the Rocketeers of North Attleboro at 7:00. Taunton (9-4, 11-4) has a non-league matchup at Plymouth North on Monday.

King Philip Cashes In With Small Ball Against North Attleboro

King Philip softball Libby Walsh Charlotte Raymond
King Philip senior Libby Walsh (left) celebrates with classmate Charlotte Raymond after scoring in the eighth inning. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. — The King Philip softball team entered Thursday’s showdown with division rival North Attleboro as one of the best offensive teams in the state, but Rocketeer senior pitcher Kelly Colleran stifled the Warriors for seven innings.

Good defense and a strong outing from King Philip freshman pitcher McCoy Walsh (13 strikeouts) kept the hosts off the board too, and after seven innings the teams were deadlocked in a scoreless game that had just one hit — an infield single from North’s Maryellen Charette.

That’s when KP head coach Kate Fallon-Comeau elected to switch up their offensive strategy. The Warriors bunted in five straight at-bats and capitalized on some head’s up base running to score three times to take the first lead of the game.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“We hit so many foul balls just straight back so we were just missing, and our bats have been really hot so we wanted to give them a chance at swinging,” Fallon-Comeau said. “We got into that eighth inning and I knew we needed to try something different. Sarah [Cullen] put down that beautiful bunt and beat it out, and we were off from there. We have speed and the personnel to do it, and we were able to take advantage of a couple of pitches to advance and from there it was bunt and steal because it was working.”

After few theatrics throughout the first seven innings, the eighth inning provided even more drama in the bottom half. Colleran led off with a triple and sophomore Arianna McDavitt and freshman Molly Willey drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with no outs. Walsh came through with consecutive strikeouts — one looking, one swinging — and then got a fly ball to Cullen in center to leave them loaded and close out the win.

“We always seem to make things interesting at the end,” Fallon-Comeau said. “We had two conferences, one with me and one with Maddie [Paschke], just to try and refocus her. We just needed her to pitch the game she had been pitching all game long. She’s just a freshman so this was her first big game being in a moment like that. She did a great job today and closing it out.”

North had two hits in the game and also had eight walks but couldn’t get a run across against the Warriors.

“The hard part in the eighth, we had the bases loaded but because we were chasing three runs, there’s only so much you can do,” said North Attleboro head coach Bill Wallace. “I give McCoy a lot of credit, she battled in that eighth inning. I’m thrilled with where we are as a team to be honest. Our younger kids are coming along, and everyone is pulling for one another, and this was a good game to showcase it. I think they are a little ticked off, which is a good thing, but they aren’t down.”

Senior Sarah Cullen dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line and raced down the line for KP’s first hit of the game; before North could get back in position, Cullen sprinted to second to get into scoring position. Freshman Ali Gill also bunted on the first pitch and a throwing error allowed Cullen to scamper home and Gill to take second.

A wild pitch allowed Gill to advance to third and KP’s bunt trend continued as senior Libby Walsh laid one down the first base line and Gill slid into home before the throw. Walsh stole second, took third on a passed ball, and came flying home when sophomore Liv Petrillo pushed a bunt past the charging infield to make it 3-0. A stolen base and a sac bunt from Charlotte Raymond put Petrillo at third but Colleran (15 strikeouts) got a pop-up to second to strand the runner there.

Before the extra inning excitement, the potential play of the game came in the sixth inning. Colleran led off with a walk and moved to second on a sac bunt from McDavitt. A walk to Willey preceded the first hit of the game off the bat of Charette, a dribbler to third, and North had the bases loaded with one out. Walsh got a grounder to second that Petrillo fielded cleanly and fired home, getting the force out. Junior catcher Maddie Paschke didn’t hesitate and quickly gunned one to first to get the double play.

“We practice defense as much as we practice hitting, and as much situational stuff that we can,” Fallon-Comeau said. “We’re trying to figure out what we want to do before we actually get into them. We wanted to get that run at the plate and with Maddie’s arm, we knew she was going to make that play at first. I was not surprised she was ready for that moment.”

Both Colleran and Walsh handled business throughout the early innings. Colleran got four strikeouts in the first inning (the third batter reached after a dropped third strike), and had 1-2-3 innings in the second and fourth, striking out a pair in each. Walsh worked around a leadoff error in the first and then struck out the side in the second.

KP’s Taylor Regan was hit by a pitch to lead off the third and moved to second on a sacrifice from Ava Lanza, but Colleran got two straight outs to strand the runner there. A two-out walk got a runner on for North in the bottom half but Paschke threw the runner out trying to steal second to end the inning.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

The Warriors threatened in the sixth when Cullen and Gill had consecutive one-out walks but a nice play at third from Willey got the force for the second and then an infield pop-up ended the inning.

“Molly at third base had a great game, and there was nothing she could do on that last bunt,” Wallace said. “That’s where the KP poise comes in, they can push a bunt down the first down line, they push a bunt past the charging infield. I give KP credit and I’m really happy with how our team battled.”

King Philip (7-0 Hockomock, 10-0 overall) returns home on Tuesday to host Canton. North Attleboro (5-2, 6-3) will host Foxboro on the same day.

Chaput, Thomas Leave Mark On Canton’s Title Run

AJ Thomas Jeff Chaput
Canton’s AJ Thomas (left) and Jeff Chaput celebrate the latter’s third period goal in the D2 state title game. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 BOSTON, Mass. — As a freshman, Canton’s Jeff Chaput didn’t have the chance to step on the ice at the TD Garden after the season was cut short just before the state championships game.

After a sophomore campaign without playoffs and a loss in the final as a junior last year, Chaput had one final chance to raise the MIAA state championship trophy.

Chaput and the rest of the Bulldogs delivered. After scoring just four goals during the regular season, he lit the lamp for the fifth straight postseason game — after netting just four goals during the regular season — to help Canton secure a 4-1 win over Hopkinton for the program’s third title in the past five years/four seasons.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“Determination,” Chaput said of the postseason turnaround. “I wasn’t going to lose, any of these playoff games could have been my last game so I wanted to give it my all, empty the tank every single game.

“Goals have to come from somewhere. In the regular season, it was my linemates and things just started clicking in the postseason and I came through when we needed it.”

Chaput’s tally came with just under three minutes to go to give Canton a much-needed insurance tally and a 3-1 lead. Fittingly, it was Chaput’s classmate and linemate AJ Thomas that sealed the deal with an empty net goal with 25 seconds to go.

Chaput and Thomas have emerged as the go-to players for the Bulldogs. The former was assisted by the latter in the first-round win over Medford, both players lit the lamp in a 6-0 win over Wilmington, and Chaput’s goal gave Canton a two-goal cushion against Newburyport.

The duo wasn’t done there as Chaput came up with a huge goal early in the third period that leveled the score in the state semifinals against Duxbury, and then Thomas buried the game-winning goal with just under five minutes to go. Similar to Sunday morning, Thomas had the empty net goal in the win over the Dragons to ice the win.

“They were definitely frustrated sometimes during the season with their lack of goal scoring and we just kept saying, ‘Hey, you’ll score when it matters,’” said Canton head coach Brian Shuman. “Jeff Chaput [scored] four goals in the regular season, five in the playoffs. He’s a guy that’s a four-year player for us and he knows what it takes to win. He stepped up big time. AJ is someone that every person on the other team knows about. They key on him and try to shut him down, but he still finds ways to be productive.”

Hopkinton took the lead just 3:12 into the game, only the second goal the Bulldogs had allowed all postseason. It was also just the second time Canton trailed throughout its tournament run. Juniors Brendan Tourgee and Brian Middleton scored a minute apart at the end of the second period to turn the deficit into a lead.

“We’re all brothers, there’s no way other way to explain it,” Chaput said. “We weren’t going to let what happened last year happen again. We ride for each other, we love each other.”

The Chaput/Thomas duo combined for one final time with Thomas dropping a nice pass to Chaput in stride, setting up a wrist shot top shelf for a 3-1 lead.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“It feels amazing,” Thomas said. “We weren’t going to let what happened last year happen again. After they scored the first one, we were down a little bit but we weren’t going to let it go. We came together in the locker room and came out in the second and put it to them.

“Me and Jeff were put on the same line about midway through the season and ever since then we’ve become so much closer. We’re more than friends, we’re brothers. It’s amazing to do this with him, I’m so proud of him and he’s earned everything.”

Over the last four years, with Chaput,

AJ Thomas

Thomas, and fellow seniors Leo Owens, Griffin Hughes, Jack Lauro, Jack Digirolamo, James Young, Carson Eagles, and manager Matt Yeaton in the program, Canton finished with a 76-8-5 record, four Davenport division titles, three state finals appearances, and two Division 2 state championships.

Mansfield Falls To Malden Catholic In D2 Championship

Mansfield boys basketball JT Veiking
Mansfield senior JT Veiking takes a shot in the second half against Malden Catholic at the Tsgonas Center. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
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 LOWELL, Mass. — Down a pair of starters and matched up against Malden Catholic, the top seed and defending state champions, Mansfield had little room for error in the Division 2 State Championship game.

The Hornets’ impressive season, highlighted by a memorable postseason run, came to a close with a 72-54 loss to the Lancers on the hardwood inside the Tsongas Center on the campus of UMass Lowell.

Although the Hornets were down just nine at the halftime break, Malden Catholic’s relentless effort on the offensive glass paired with some uncharacteristic Mansfield turnovers saw the deficit balloon up to 19 by the end of the third quarter.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“That’s a really, really good Malden Catholic team and we were going to have to play perfect to win,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan. “We had to try and find a way to play at our tempo and then live in the moment. They came out playing physically and our passes, and we were throwing passes we haven’t thrown since December. They were jumping passing lanes, and even if they were just deflecting it, it just disrupts the offense and your flow.

“The rest of the first quarter we weren’t cutting, we weren’t moving…guys were standing there, with pale faces, blank stares. I’ve been here before, I’ve seen it and I knew it was going to be an uphill battle.”

Malden Catholic’s Nick Martinez drained a three to open the game and was difficult to slow down the rest of the way as he finished with a game-high 28 points and seven rebounds. Mansfield senior JT Veiking scored a team-high 17 points and had nine boards while junior Eddie McCoy chipped in with 14 points.

The Lancers were prepared for Mansfield’s pass-heavy offense and jumped into the passing lanes for a couple of turnovers-turned-transition buckets and a 16-10 lead after eight minutes.

In an effort to disrupt Malden Catholic’s offense, the Hornets deployed a rare zone defense to start the second. It worked as the Lancers managed just one field goal in the first three minutes of the quarter — after three offensive rebounds — but Mansfield’s offense never quite could get in gear and managed just one bucket of their own.

Malden Catholic’s lead reached 12 after a turnover led to a three from Martinez. The Hornets clawed back into it as sophomore Nate Creedon drove to the rim for two, Veiking hit a floater and then finished off a traditional three-point play to get within 26-20 with 1:27 left in the half, but a quick 5-0 surge, including a bucket off another offensive rebound, saw the Lancers carry a 31-22 lead into halftime.

“We were down nine, we held them to 31 points and we gave up nine offensive rebounds and had seven turnovers, and that was the difference,” Vaughan said. “The talk at halftime was…if we could find a way…rebounding is somewhat effort, somewhat a knack for the ball, but it’s also skill. And we were playing a skilled team, of course they were going to rebound well.

“I think our guys were a little shell-shocked by the moment at the start. At the end of the day, when you start getting punched in the face, you have to look in the mirror. I think it took us a minute to absorb it but by that point, we dug ourselves a hole and you can’t dig a hole against [Malden Catholic].”

Mansfield gave Malden Catholic a little bit of its own medicine when senior Chris Hill collected an offensive rebound for a putback for the opening basket of the third quarter but it didn’t take long for the Lancers to get back on the offensive glass in the form of a three-point play from Ben Howard (11 points, nine rebounds). Bo Moody tacked on a three and Howard had another three-point play off an offensive rebound as the Lancers began to distance themselves.

The Hornets lost starting point guard Davon Sanders in the first game of the tournament, and starting forward Trevor Foley — who led the Hornets in scoring during the regular season and is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the league — has been out for the past three games.

“[Malden Catholic] is talented, they have three legit players,” Vaughan said, “When you do stuff against them, and they can execute and find a kid open in the corner because they are that good, what are you going to do? And unfortunately, we weren’t perfect.

“As much as I don’t want to blame the fact we were down two guys — they are down a starter too — but our system and the way we play, our depth matters to us. When we don’t have that depth, we aren’t able to rotate guys through and continue to be fresh and continue to move.”

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Hill had three straight for the Hornets, Veiking splashed in a triple off a pass from McCoy, and Caden Colby (eight points) finished the quarter with a great hustle play, fighting for an offensive rebound and putback at the buzzer but the Lancers’ lead was 53-34 going into the fourth.

“If you look at where we were at in December and where we are now, it’s like a different team,” Vaughan said. “We didn’t have an identity. We were good defensively but we looked like a hot mess on most possessions offensively. We cleaned that up and that takes a commitment from the guys, they had to trust each other. I thought the guys did an awesome job all year. Just the growth we had in one season was just amazing.”

Mansfield boys basketball finishes the season at 25-3.

Mansfield Neutralizes Nashoba To Earn Spot In D2 Final

Mansfield boys basketball Eddie McCoy
Mansfield junior Eddie McCoy (28 points) splits a pair of Nashoba players for a layup in the second half. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 WORCESTER, Mass. — The stage keeps getting bigger and the Mansfield boys basketball team keeps delivering.

Junior Eddie McCoy poured in a game-high 28 points as he continued a terrific postseason run and the Hornets put together another defensive masterpiece to pass their latest test with flying colors, a convincing 65-45 win over #6 Nashoba in the state semifinals.

The win sets up #2 Mansfield with its biggest and final test of the season: a date with top-seeded Malden Catholic in the Division 2 State Championship.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“It speaks volumes about where we are at,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan. “We were saying at the end of the game, this is just how Mansfield does things. For years we’ve used that ‘next up’ mentality, and we have guys playing close to 30 minutes trying to fill the voids with two guys out. Defensively we were awesome all night and offensively we found our opportunities to be effective, took care of the basketball, and did everything I thought we needed to do to win the game. We kind of just kept grinding throughout games.”

McCoy has been a star for far in the playoffs and wasted little time providing a spark on the offensive end for the Hornets. He knocked down an early triple and scored nine points in the opening quarter as the Hornets built a 17-8 lead. He added seven more in the second quarter while senior JT Veiking (16 points, six rebounds, four blocks) had eight points by halftime to help secure a 29-22 lead at the break.

“Not having Trevor [Foley] and Davon [Sanders] hurts us but I’m proud of this group for how we’ve handled losing them and how we’ve kept going,” McCoy said. “I think with Trevor being out, I feel like I’ve had to step up and be more of ‘the guy’ kind of role. I’m feeling confident out there.

“Now we have one more.”

The Hornets only forced five turnovers in the first half but played tough on-ball defense and held the Wolves to under 28% shooting from the field, including just two points off nine offensive rebounds.

“I thought defensively we were the one team that could match up with them,” Vaughan said. “We don’t get a lot of credit for our size because we play a lot of perimeter basketball but JT is 6’7, Chris is 6’5, and Eddie is 6’3 or 6’4. I thought all of our matchups worked and I thought if we could rebound the ball, which they were really good at, and we did that really well early. We got better at that in the third quarter and that helped us get that separation.”

Mansfield really created separation in the third quarter as it limited the Wolves to just 10 points — holding Nashoba to just two offensive boards while coming up with three forced turnovers.

Meanwhile, the Hornets’ offense just continued to break down Nashoba’s defense, both its man-to-man and 3-2 zone. Multiple passes, constant movement off the ball, backdoor cuts, and effective shooting — all key traits to Mansfield’s offense — kept Nashoba guessing.

Senior Chris Hill (10 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals) asserted himself right away, taking the first three shots of the half (after just two in the first half) and making back-to-back layups. Nashoba answered with two buckets of its own, but over the final four minutes of the quarter. Mansfield outscored the Wolves 16-6 to create its largest lead of the game.

Veiking had a traditional three-point play to start the run, and McCoy had consecutive strong takes to the rim before sinking a pair of free throws. Junior Brandon Jackman hooked up with Hill (who had eight of his 10 points in the quarter) and then Hill set up Veiking for a triple. A late layup from Hill capped the run and Mansfield staked a 49-32 lead going into the fourth.

“When we came out of the locker room, you make eye contact with a senior [Hill] that’s played with you so long…sometimes you don’t have to say anything, they just know,” Vaughan said of Hill’s big third period. “We needed a second or a third guy, we knew they’d try to take some stuff away with Eddie and that’s when Chris asserted himself which I thought were three critical possessions coming out of the half.”

McCoy hit three free throws in the first couple of minutes of the fourth and Caden Colby (five points, three rebounds) added two of his own from the line. McCoy read a Nashoba pass perfectly, picked it off, and went in for the layup as Mansfield’s lead inflated to 56-38 with just under five minutes to go.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“Newton North coach Paul Connolly once said to me about the playoffs that you need a couple of things: you need to get lucky, have talent, and then you need a guy that comes out and plays at a different level,” Vaughan said. “Eddie’s been showing little glimpses all year but he’s taking over games and doing it in the flow. He’s not forcing action, he’s not trying to do it all, he’s allowing his teammates to contribute. He’s stepped in and made big plays over and over the last couple of weeks.”

Nashoba had five straight points to get the deficit down to 16 points (56-40) but that would be the closest they’d get the rest of the way. Sophomore Nate Creedon had success at the line to keep the Hornets ahead, Veiking tacked on one final bucket, and freshman Gabe McIntyre capped the scoring with a free throw.

Mansfield boys basketball (25-2) will finish its season against the top-seeded Lancers of Malden Catholic (22-2), who is looking for its second straight state title. The game is currently scheduled for Friday at 5:30 at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.

Shorthanded Hornets Dominate Marblehead, Earn Final Four Berth

Mansfield boys basketball Caden Colby
Mansfield senior Caden Colby takes a three-point shot in the second half against Marblehead. (Ryan Lanigan/HockomockSports.com)
ByRyanLanigan_2016FollowRyanLanigan_2016
 
 
 MANSFIELD, Mass. – The beat goes on for the well-oiled machine that is the Mansfield boys basketball team.

Despite being down two starters, the second-seeded Hornets dominated from start to finish in a 77-50 win over #10 Marblehead in a Division 2 Elite 8 contest.

In front of a jam-packed rambunctious crowd inside Albertini Gymnasium, the Hornets exploded out of the gate with 24 points in the first quarter and defensively, they never let the visiting Magicians get their act in order.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

With the win, Mansfield advances to the Division 2 Final Four.

With junior point guard Davon Sanders (9.1 points per game) and junior defensive standout Trevor Foley (11.6 ppg) sidelined with injuries, the shorthanded Hornets didn’t miss a beat.

“I think it’s the personality of the guys on the team,” said Mansfield head coach Mike Vaughan. “They understand that the style is more important than the individual pieces. When guys buy into that, that we are the sum of the team as opposed to individuals, it’s about the sum of all of us.”

Sophomore Nate Creedon started in just his second career game at point guard while sophomore Riley Sigman entered the rotation. Both players saw limited minutes during the regular season but made an immediate impact in this one with Creedon (five points, seven assists) dishing out three assists in the opening quarter and Sigman adding a field goal in the Hornets’ big first quarter.

“We’re throwing a back cut to Riley [Sigman] in a playoff game, he was a JV player two weeks ago, a practice player for us,” Vaughan said, “That’s how much they trust the system and one another and what they are capable of. Talk about the play of Nate and Riley…if they got off the bench two weeks ago it was in a 30-point game and now they’re playing meaningful minutes in the rotation and making meaningful plays. And it’s not all stuff you see in the stat book, they both played steady and weren’t afraid of the moment.”

Junior Eddie McCoy, fresh off a career-high 31-point performance in Mansfield’s win over Salem in the previous round, set the tone early offensively as he dropped 11 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter. It started back and forth, but Mansfield closed on a 12-2 run to create separation that the Magicians couldn’t make disappear.

McCoy had the first four points – a pair of free throws and then a strong baseline take off a feed from Creedon. Sigman converted a backdoor cut, junior Brandon Jackman came off the bench to convert in close, senior JT Veiking (21 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks) scored off a feed from Creedon, and then Jackman linked up with Veiking for two more and Mansfield had an early 24-9 lead.

Mansfield quickly pushed the lead to 20 points less than two minutes into the quarter off a putback from Veiking and a three-pointer from McCoy. The final six minutes played out a bit more even as the Hornets went a little cold from distance but senior Chris Hill (eight points, 13 rebounds, five assists, two steals) found classmate Caden Colby (10 points, four assists) in the corner for a triple and a 39-20 lead at the half.

“JT played a little different in more of what we needed him to do, Caden stepped up and took on a top-level scorer and was able to keep him in check, really helped us and made them work for everything they got,” Vaughan said. “Guys that were playing 20 minutes before, they were playing 26, 27 minutes tonight and in this environment, physically and mentally, is draining. I thought everything from the environment, the community showing out, the pregame, everything was just first class. We were locked in from the start. We’ve been here before and the kids proved we belong here, and I was really proud of that.”

Mansfield’s offense picked back up in the third, outsourcing the visitors by double digits, 22-12. Creedon sandwiched a three and a field goal around a triple from McCoy, Veiking added a triple of his own, and a minute later, McCoy had another triple as the Hornets’ lead grew to 55-26 just three minutes into the third.

“It was a clinic,” Vaughan said. “I thought we were locked in yesterday [at practice]. You never know how young men will respond to a situation. We didn’t have a week to prepare for [Foley’s injury], we had one practice. The kids showed up today, they were locked in on offense, they were locked in on defense, and they really put on a clinic.”

A traditional three-point play from Colby started the fourth quarter and Mansfield’s lead — in an Elite 8 game in the state tournament – hit 30 points. The Hornets held the Magicians to 12 or fewer points in the first three quarters while Colby helped keep crafty Marblehead guard Tyrone Countrymon to 15 points (nine through three quarters).

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“I think we were overwhelming on both ends of the floor for them tonight,” Vaughan said. “The defensive end, I think you can watch us on film and if you don’t get to play us, you don’t know how good we are defensively. The players are prepared to really navigate the game, and they can force guys into shots and into things out of character. We’re not trying to pitch a shutout, we just try to minimize opportunities. We can’t get away with some things in our league but out of the league, we can make it difficult for teams to score.”

Sophomore Sean McCoy dished out a pair of assists in the fourth quarter, senior Michael Creedon added to the scoring column with a strong take, and freshman Gabe McIntyre drained a three to get the Hornets to their final score.

Mansfield boys basketball (24-2) will take on Nashoba in the Final Four with a spot in the state championship on the line. The date, time, and location for the game is still to be announced.