BOXFORD — They’re big, they’re physical, they’re athletic, and they get after it defensively.
The Gloucester boys hoop team found that out the hard way Friday night against a Masconomet team that had their entire arsenal on display from the jump.
After seizing a competitive, single-digit win over the Fishermen just before Christmas, head coach Jaycob Morales’ squad left nothing on the table in the rematch as the Chieftains cruised to a convincing 74-39 triumph on their home floor.
“We punched them in the mouth in every aspect of the game, which was huge for us,” said Morales, his team now 9-1. “We’ve been taking pride on defense, and it’s something that’s not an easy thing to do with kids at this age because it’s one of those things that doesn’t show up in the book. But it absolutely drives our offense, and defensively we were amazing tonight.”
Gloucester’s Nick Deleon came out of the gate and splashed home a triple for the game’s first points, but it was all Masco from there. The Chieftains would score the next 27 points of the contest, holding the Fishermen to that lone trifecta until the 5-minute mark of the second frame. By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 43-11 for the hosts; that was virtually all she wrote.
For Gloucester, it was a disappointing effort considering how well it had played the last time out in a win over fellow NEC rival Beverly. The Fishermen seemed to get rattled early — which is certainly a credit to Masco’s aggressive defense — it snowballed on them, and they were simply never able to recover.
“It’s a little frustrating; you come out and have a game like you did against Beverly and I think my exact words (after that win) were that it’s nice to see us work through the chaos and get a win in that situation,” said Gloucester coach Adam Philpott, his team still sitting at 6-4 at the midway point of the year. “So you think that you’re turning a corner mentality wise, and then to come in here and basically be unprepared to play the game is a little disappointing.”
Following the three by Deleon — Gloucester’s leading scorer who was held to just five total points on the evening — Masco swiftly asserted itself on defense. And like Morales alluded to, it ignited the offense.
Time and time again early on they worked the ball into the paint, with center Jamason Vella (13 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block) dropping in a number of layups at the rim to spark the scoring spree.
Fellow big man Thomas Denton (12 points, 8 rebounds) added one of his four triples in that decisive first quarter, Devin O’Brien (9 points, 3 assists, 1 block) got a couple of shots to fall at the basket, and Jimmy Farrell piloted the entire operation with some crafty dribbling and purposeful drives to the basket.
“I can’t stress enough: We have some of the best bigs in the state,” said Morales. “I have total faith in them and so does the team and we then we know how to share the ball. If they double inside we get the ball outside, we have shooters in places, we have guys that are cutting … it’s the aspect that they’re really playing as a team together on both sides of the court.”
Farrell, who isn’t a big but rather an uber-athletic, shifty guard who can score at all three levels, wound up dropping 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half. He added five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals before sitting the majority of the fourth quarter as his team nursed the big lead.
“Jimmy must be one of the most underrated guys in the state. He’s one of those kids I heard about and until I saw it with my own eyes, I mean, that’s a college basketball player right there,” Morales said of his junior floor general. “I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more accolades because he deserves it.”
Gloucester took its physicality up a notch in the second half, but the hole was simply too deep to climb out of. Charlie Amero (10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks) got going a bit after the break, knocking down some contested shots and freeing himself in the middle with a textbook spin move on two occasions.
Carlos Velazquez also reached double figures with 10, six of which came at the free throw line down the stretch. And if there was a silver lining for coach Philpott and his staff, it’s that he got the opportunity to rotate in a number of different guys in the final two frames.
“That’s the plus is getting some guys experience. I tell those guys all the time that there’s minutes up for grabs; nobody’s solidified in the lineup at all,” said Philpott. “I thought Elijah Brooks came in, played aggressive, played hard. And Nash Marshall is a guy who’s minutes were cut short compared to last year as a freshman, but he hasn’t put his head down at all and he came in and I thought he worked his (tail) off. So it’s good to let these guys get an opportunity to see what they can do.”
Still, it was tough to look for many positives in a loss like this, Gloucester’s worst result of the season.
“There was no play, there was no shot that was going to get us back into that game. It was just effort, physicality and hustle,” added Philpott. “I mean, we got dominated in all three phases and credit to Masco, that’s a great program. They play with a standard that I’ve been trying to get my guys to play with.
“Luckily, this is a good bench mark for us as it’s the turning point of the season, 10 games in,” he continued. “So we can decide what team we want to be here in the second half and hopefully push towards a tournament berth.”
Masconomet 74, Gloucester 39
at Masconomet Regional High School, Boxford
Gloucester (6-4);3;8;16;12;39
Masconomet (9-1);20;23;19;12;74
Individual statistics
Gloucester — Cam Olsen 1-0-3, Carlos Velazquez 2-6-10, Elijah Brooks 2-0-4, Nick Deleon 1-2-5, Brayden Francis 1-0-3, Charlie Amero 4-1-10, Jack Silveria 2-0-4. Totals: 13-9-39.
Masconomet — Jimmy Farrell 8-3-19, Jack Rollins 1-0-3, Devin O’Brien 3-2-9, John Green 1-2-4, Daniel Karas 1-0-2, Thomas Denton 4-0-12, Colin Doherty 2-1-6, Jamason Vella 6-1-13, John Sanger 1-0-2, Hunter Rossi 2-0-4. Totals: 29-9-74.
Halftime: 43-11, Masconomet
3-pointers: G — Olsen, Deleon, Francis, Amero; M — Denton 4, O’Brien, Rollins, Doherty.