The Whaler boys basketball team cruised to a 55-29 win over the Falmouth Clippers Tuesday evening to improve their record to 4-1 this season. The Whalers started off slow offensively, but their defense was tenacious from the opening tip.
“We have the guys who can play that defense but we need to anticipate better,” head coach Willis Ferreira said. “We need to go for it. Sometimes we sit back but we need to make things happen. You can get into some foul trouble that way but I’d rather that since we have a deep bench.”
The Whalers led 14-6 after one quarter. Senior guard Justin Bloise scored seven of his 12 points for the night in the opening quarter. He also had three assists and two of the team’s six first quarter steals.
The second quarter was much of the same. The Whalers went into the half up 28-13 and got a strong effort from sophomore forward Jayquan Francis, who had five points and five rebounds at the half while playing strong defense down low.
“I still feel like we aren’t getting into transition like I would like to,” Ferreira said. “Falmouth kind of makes you do that because they slow the game down in the half court and give you a little pressure so you pass it back and forth rather than going up the court quicker. We can get better from that standpoint.”
Nantucket went up 41-21 six minutes into the third quarter. Sophomore guard Carlos Aguilar began to heat up, making a pair of shots while setting up his teammates for easy hoops.
“It felt like we were stuck at 41 for a while didn’t it,” Ferreira said. “I think right now I am still trying to get everyone minutes to see what works and what doesn’t work. So you have some guys in for a few minutes and then they are out. It can make it hard on them to get into a rhythm. It has been a little more difficult than I expected to find the right combinations.
Falmouth trailed 41-25 after three quarters, and a 6-0 run after failing into a 20 point deficit made it 41-27 one minute into the final quarter. But Nantucket clamped down defensively with Aguilar and guard Makai Bodden pressuring the Clipper’s guards in a full court press and center JJ Bennett anchored the defense from the paint.
“I thought Falmouth’s zone bothered us a little bit,” Ferreira said. “You have to be patient against the zone. You have to move the ball inside and outside and we kind of pass it to one side, then we pass it inside and before you know it the ball is gone whether it be a turnover or a shot. We haven’t seen it a ton. We worked on it all week and we will continue to work on it.”
Nantucket won the game 55-29. They closed the game out with their most dominant quarter of the night, outscoring the Clippers 14-4.
Bloise led the way with 12 points, five assists, three steals, and three rebounds. Francis had 12 points and seven rebounds. Bodden had four points, four assists, and six steals. Aguilar had eight points, six assists, and three steals. Bennett had nine points and four rebounds.
