The Whaler boys basketball team improved their record to 3-1 this season with a 67-43 road win over the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins. Senior guard Makai Bodden led the way with a 16 point effort and tenacious perimeter defense.
“I thought that was Makai’s best game in his four years with the program,” head coach Willis Ferreira said. “That is the guy I love. The guy who only shoots threes in the corners isn’t. That guy we saw tonight is my guy because he can bring so much to the table. He drives to the hoop and makes things happen. When he is doing what he does and then steps into some of those shots from the corner and from three, that is when he is really dangerous.”
The Whalers got off to a sluggish start to begin the game, falling into an early 5-0 hole. But the Whalers were stingy enough on defense to keep it close while they attempted to find their offensive rhythm that seemed to be out of sync early and led 14-12 after one quarter.
“I thought we adjusted pretty good,” Ferreira said. “I was a little worried about this game because of the time off we had, and we didn’t start good, but we still had that lead at the end of one. I felt like if we just started to play a little better we could build a good lead and earn the win.”
The Whaler’s ball movement and speed wasn’t a factor in the first quarter, but the offense exploded in the second quarter for 22 points. It was the Whaler’s defense that struggled in the second quarter giving up 16 points.
Nantucket was without junior forward Karson Wellington, their vocal leader on defense who athletically and stylistically is one of their top defenders. His versatility allows him to guard almost any position. His absence forced Ferreira to slot sophomore forward Jayquan Francis into Wellington’s role and out of his ordinary position where he is lurking in the paint. The Whalers took a 36-28 lead into halftime.
The Whaler’s second half was all about their control of the offensive and defensive glass. They were able to create second and third chance opportunities while limiting the Dolphins to one. sophomore forward Jack Halik, senior center JJ Bennett, and Francis were great on the boards while guards like Bodden, senior Justin Bloise, and junior Treyce Brannigan also contributed.
“Man I thought Treyce was really good tonight,” Ferreira said. “He just hustles and plays so hard for us defensively. Then he goes and gets us a couple of baskets.”
Sophomore point guard Carlos Aguilar played an indirect role in the Whaler’s dominance on the glass with his strong second half. The Whalers outscored the Dolphins 31-15 in the final two quarters with Aguilar scoring all 11 of his points in the second half, including three 3-point shots. Aguilar’s perimeter shooting forced the Dolphins defense to creep out to the perimeter, which created more space in the paint for Nantucket to get to work securing rebounds.
“I thought Carlos seemed a little off again today from what he normally is,” Ferreira said. “He was able to get it going in the second half but I still didn’t feel like he was himself tonight.”
Bloise, who was playing the game with a dislocated finger he suffered in practice last week, settled things down when play got hectic as he normally does. He finished with 11 points in the game. Ferreira said the potential for this group is high, but he continues to see his team struggle with situational basketball which could come back to haunt them later on in the season.
Ferreira put blame on himself for some mistakes, but said he thinks his players need to become more familiar with in-game situations. He said they will continue to work on understanding what to do at certain points of the game based on the clock and develop a form of attack against different looks such as the zone defense the Dolphins ran, which Ferreira said his team hadn’t seen much of in the first three games.
“I really like this team,” Ferreira said. “I think that they have so much potential and I’m excited to see where they can get to by the end of the season. There is a lot of talent on this team, but we still make a lot of dumb mistakes. So we have to clean that up. But I love this group.”
The Whalers will look to improve their record to 4-1 when they host the Mashpee Falcons on Thursday at 5 p.m.
