Nantucket point guard Carlos Aguilar carried the Whalers to a 58-30 victory Thursday evening over the Sturgis West Navigators. He finished the game with 19 points and three assists as the Whalers improved their record to 5-1 this season.
“I felt amazing today,” Aguilar said. “I felt like I had something to prove because I haven’t had a good game since the Sandwich game but we lost (that game).”
The Whalers started off with one of their worst first half’s of the season, something even their players acknowledged after the game. But Nantucket still entered halftime up 20-13 behind 10 first half points from Aguilar and stingy defense.
“I think we know what we need to work on,” head coach Willis Ferreira said. “We needed to pick up the pace because I think we took this team a little lightly coming into the game.”
Aguilar said he felt like this game was exactly what he needed in order to get a hot streak going. He said having fans cheering them on after the limited spectator policy was lifted this week helped him play well.
“It was just perfect timing because all the fans got me hyped up every time they stood up and cheered,” Aguilar said.
The Whalers started to pick up the pace in the third quarter. Ferreira said aggressiveness was the message at halftime, and it showed with the Whaler’s executing a full court press that gave them some easy third quarter points. They went into the final quarter up 37-20.
“It was a struggle,” Ferreira said. “I thought West was good. They were physical on the glass and basically just gave us one chance and done on the offensive end. I think today is a good learning opportunity for me and for them that you have to go out and play. Nothing is given.”
Sophomore forward Jayquan Francis had arguably the best all-around game for Nantucket. He finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, five steals, and three assists.
“Sometimes it doesn’t seem like he is doing much until after the game you see the statistics and everything he does aside from just scoring,” Ferreira said. “I don’t think we do a good enough job of getting him the ball down low. We can improve in that area. He is good on the glass and he is very athletic.”
Nantucket had its best offensive quarter in the final frame, outscoring the Navigators 21-8 to seal the 58-30 victory.
“We’re a good team but we didn’t play like we’re known to play today,” Aguilar said. “With Justin and Makai out this next game we have to step it up because we all have to rely on one another way more especially with two of our starters missing.”
The Whalers will host Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday at 12 p.m. Justin Bloise and Makai Bodden will be unavailable due to a football commitment, as they travel to Texas for the 2022 All-American Bowl.
