Mashpee Boys Build Early Lead And Leave Cape Tech With A Win

By: Rich Maclone
Published: 12/31/10

 It was not their most aesthetically pleasing contest of the season, but the Mashpee High School boys’ basketball team enjoyed the end result all the same. Despite playing some very sloppy basketball in the second half, the Falcons flew home from Harwich with a 58-37 win over Cape Tech on Wednesday afternoon.

The victory upped the squad’s record to 5-1 on the season.

Head Coach Matt Triveri did not like his team’s overall effort, especially in the second half. Mashpee led by 20 at the half and had a chance to put the game way out of reach, but did not show any signs of a killer instinct. Rather than put the Crusaders out of their misery they allowed the less-talented team to hang around.

Cape Tech threatened to make the most of Mashpee’s leaving the door open. MHS led 45-26 at the end of three quarters, but then were caught napping by the Crusaders who went on an 8-0 run to get the lead down to 11. Had a three-pointer from the wing with just under six minutes left been true for CCT the game would have gotten into single digits range and the Crusaders may have really had a chance. The shot rimmed out, though, and MHS point guard Andrew Tubbs did the prudent thing on the Falcons’ next trip up the court. The senior guard dropped his shoulders and drove hard to the rim, getting hacked on his way to the basket. He hit the first of his two free throws, ending a scoring drought for MHS and lifting them a bit.

That play spelled the beginning of the end for the home team. On Cape Tech’s next trip Tubbs picked the ball away from his counterpart and went coast-to-coast for an easy lay-up that got the lead back to 13 for Mashpee. Cape Tech then got themselves to the line, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Tubbs once again drove the lane when MHS got the ball back and once again drew contact. He hit both to make it a 15-point game.

“He’s going to do that when things go poorly. He’s a guy who’s going to try to take over the game for us, which he’s capable of doing,” Triveri said.

In total the Falcons rebounded from the CCT rally with a 10-0 run of their own, getting the lead back up to 21 points over a three-minute span.

Still, Triveri did not like the second-half effort as a whole. The team shot just 7-for-34 from the floor (21 percent) after the intermission and committed a slew of turnovers. “We missed lay-ups, we weren’t going strong and I thought that we played soft at times,” the coach said.

Senior forward Zack MacRae led the Mashpee attack with 12 points in the game. Niko Hendricks popped in nine. Nate Sprague chipped in with eight points and four assists. Tubbs, Jay Farias, and Eric Lopes all had seven points in the game. Lopes also pulled down nine rebounds.

Last Thursday the Falcons picked up a key South Shore League victory over Norwell High School. Mashpee jumped out to an early lead and held on for a 58-41 victory.

The key to the victory came in the third quarter. Leading by a 27-17 score at the half, Mashpee saw the Clippers score six quick points to cut the lead down to four during the early stages of the third. The Falcons’ lead sat at six when a pair of back-to-back three-pointers helped them get over the top for good. Teddy Purdy and Sprague each launched bombs from the perimeter on back-to-back possessions to push their team’s lead up to a dozen points.

Norwell would clip the lead back down to eight, but then Zack Orcutt came through with a pair of nice shots from in close to get it back into double figures. The team rolled from there.

Senior Zack Dauksz keyed the win for Mashpee with one of his finest high school performances. The big man collected a double-double in the win, putting up 11 points to go along with 13 rebounds. “That was his best game of the year so far, he was strong,” Triveri said.

Hendricks also had a big day. He scored 10 points and pulled four caroms for the Falcons.

Mashpee now preps for a big week that sees them squaring off against a pair of South Shore League foes. On Tuesday evening the squad hosts league rivals Harwich High School at 6:30 PM. On Friday night they hit the road to visit the Pirates of Hull High School.

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