NORTH EASTHAM – They say that the final two minutes or so of every top-tier basketball game is usually the most exciting and last night at the Nauset Regional Field House proved no exception to that old adage.
Sandwich High School’s Will Bennett (left) and senior co-captain Hank O’Brien factored in heavily to last night’s 63-49 win over Nauset on the road and their Blue Knights took home the Atlantic Coast League championship crown for the second straight season.
Sean Walsh/capecod.com sports
The visiting Sandwich Blue Knights (16-1) solidified its grasp of the Atlantic Coast League championship title last night, defeating the host Nauset Regional High School Warriors, 63-49, but at no point did the Blue Knights dominate this affair as it had so handily the previous time the two teams met in East Sandwich three weeks ago.
Buoyed by its stellar victory the night before against Monomoy – in which the Warriors clinched their first postseason berth in six years – Nauset staked itself a 27-23 halftime lead over the Blue Knights last night and were down by just one possession – 38-35 – after three quarters, before Joey Downes & Company rattled off 25 fourth quarter points for the win.
The victory gives Sandwich back-to-back ACL championship titles and two straight for second-year head coach Dennis Green.
“We ran a triangle offense that got Will (Bennett), Andrew (Galanek) and Hank (O’Brien) more involved down low and switched to a trapping zone defense that caused some good turnovers,” Coach Green said.
Downes scored seven of his 17 points on the night in the fourth quarter, while fellow senior captain Hank O’Brien dumped in nine of his game-high 18 points and Andrew Galanek had six of his 12 points.
The battle beneath the boards all night between O’Brien and Nauset’s Ethan “Big Red” Ladue could be deemed a classic one as the two hulking power forwards grappled for dominance in the paint. Ladue finished the night with 17 points, but eight of those points came in the hotly contested fourth frame.
Nauset’s Andrew Flynn scored all of his six points on the evening in the fourth frame but it was not enough to regain the earlier lead for the hosts as the Blue Knights were not to be denied sole bragging rights to the ACL crown. Nauset fell to 10-7 on the season with the loss.
“It was an awesome game,” Nauset head coach John McCarthy said. “We played them so tightly until four minutes were left. We were winning at the half and only down three after three (quarters). I’m so proud of my guys.”
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
