The Whaler boys basketball team (15-5) will begin their state tournament run on Thursday when they travel to take on the Millbury Woolies (15-5) on Thursday at 6 p.m. Whaler head coach Willis Ferreira said if his team can score in the 60s he will feel good about their chances, but said if they struggle to reach that mark it could come down to the wire.
“We have to score because they are pretty good defensively and we have to be able to handle that,” Ferreira said. “We really need to try to just put it altogether in one game. We have played well this year in spurts whether it is one quarter, two quarters, but we have never played well for 32 minutes. It seems like we get leads and let teams back in the games. We need to fix that.”
Ferreira said his team needs to be prepared for a hostile gym and student section nearly two hours away from the Hyannis terminal. He added that getting sophomore big man Jack Halik and senior big man JJ Bennett heavily involved early will be key.
“Those guys do most of their damage off of offensive rebounds more than us passing them the ball,” Ferreira said. “We are going to have to get the ball on the rim and have to try not to make extra passes. There are going to be three guys in the paint when we are driving, so we are going to have to make some outside shots and get on in transition to try to get some easy looks before their defense.”
If the Whalers can make those outside shots while making the most of their free throw opportunities, Ferreira said.
“It could be a JD Heneke day and you hope Makai (Bodden) gets off to one of his strong starts,” he said. “Carlos (Aguilar) has been struggling offensively a little bit but this week it seems like he has been getting his shot back a little bit. We will have to make some plays. Justin (Bloise) will have to make some of those plays that he makes. He may not be a great shooter but he is a game shooter. He shows up in the big moments. They are like Nauset defensively.”
