Come playoff time, it doesn’t matter how you get it done; all that matters is that your team’s final number on the scoreboard is higher than your opponent’s.
Survive and advance. That’s the name of the game in the one-and-done format.
For the Gloucester boys hoop team — which held multiple double-digit advantages in Wednesday night’s Division 3 tournament opener against Weston — it may not have been the prettiest of finishes. But the Fishermen held on, warding off a methodical Wildcats rally to walk away with a 60-58 victory on their home floor.
With the win, Gloucester moves on to face No. 6 seeded Taconic in the Round of 32 Friday night on the road.
“Offensively it just got really stagnant towards the second half and things got tight,” admitted GHS coach Adam Philpott. “We competed and that’s the biggest thing, (but) I think we were very fortunate to walk out of here with a win tonight because there were a lot of mistakes late that (usually) cost you in games at this stage of the season.”
In a game in which Gloucester threatened multiple times to open things up and cruise to the finish line, it was down to a single digit contest early in the fourth. To make matters more difficult for the hosts, senior standout Charlie Amero — who had already dropped 20 points and was fresh off a big corner triple — fouled out of the contest with just over six minutes to play.
That forced Gloucester to go small, and Weston began to inch closer and closer down the stretch.
After a slew of missed shots from Weston and a scoop layup on the left side from Nick Deleon (game-high 26 points, 2 steals) on the other end, the Fishermen pushed the lead back to nine (56-47) with 2:38 to go. The lead never ballooned back to double digits, but a great look from Andrew Cribbs to a cutting Deleon with 35 seconds to play made it 58-52 and Gloucester was feeling good.
Not so fast.
Weston called for time and set up a textbook inbounds play to free up one of their best shooters for three.
Splash.
The lead was back down to three, setting up a frantic finish in front of an anxious home crowd.
Cribbs then split a pair at the line for a four-point edge, only to watch as his team was called for a foul on a 3-point shooter with under 10 seconds to go. Dmani Williams went 3-for-3 at the stripe to make it a 59-58 game and it was scramble time for Gloucester.
“We knew they were aggressive driving the basketball, so we wanted to keep them out of the paint,” explained Philpott. “Some guys hit shots for them tonight that we didn’t see on film, but obviously I wish we didn’t foul a 3-point shooter late like that.”
Following the Weston freebies, Gloucester opted to run a unique inbounds play to free up Deleon, one of their best free throw shooters. Four guys lined up out of bounds on the baseline and it worked to perfection, with Deleon finding enough space to haul in the pass, get immediately fouled and head to the stripe.
He made the first, missed the second, Weston got the rebound and quickly pushed up court. They had a decent look at the rim to tie things, grabbed the rebound and threw up a prayer of a putback at the buzzer, but it wasn’t meant to be.
To Gloucester’s credit, they defended well without fouling on that final possession to secure the narrow triumph.
“I’m happy with the win,” said Philpott. “We got a quick turnaround here so we have to get into some film and get ready for Taconic on Friday.”
Before fouling out, Amero was huge offensively, especially when things seemed to go awry for Gloucester on that end of the floor. He opened the game by scoring his team’s first six points, helping them to a 16-10 advantage after one and a 33-25 lead at recess. In the third quarter, Amero continued to impress, showing off his long ball by knocking down a pair of big triples.
He got plenty of help from Deleon, too, who drilled four triples on the evening, each of those coming in pairs at key moments in the game. His first two makes from that distance came in the midst of a Fishermen flurry in the second quarter, the second being a deep bomb of the stepback variety.
Then late in the third, Deleon banged home back-to-back treys again, the second of which coming in transition via another stepback against single coverage. That gave Gloucester a 49-36 lead heading for home.
“First quarter was great; we were getting good movement, attacking, and it led to some open shots,” said Philpott. “That allowed Nick (Deleon) to get going from three. But I thought our defensive focus started to waver (in the second half) and we had a hard time defending without fouling. That really put us in a bad position and we didn’t do as good a job on the boards as we did in the first half; that was a big problem for us.”
Alex Laine turned in a strong game from the point position, dishing out eight assists, grabbing eight rebounds and swiping two steals without taking a single shot. Philpott praised his game management, but admitted he’d like to see his senior starter be more aggressive at times.
“We need him to start scoring the basketball because he’s capable. He’s one of our better shooters,” said the coach. “I know he’s trying to get guys going which I like, but he’s such a weapon with the ball in his hands and can get into the paint. We have to make teams respect his ability to score the ball.”
Cribbs added six points and seven boards for the hosts while Brayden Francis played a physical game in the paint and came away with seven boards as well.
Gloucester played well enough to win, but it won’t get any easier in the next round against a Taconic team that went 16-4 during the regular season after reaching the D3 state Final Four a year ago.
Gloucester 60, Weston 58
MIAA Division 3 Round of 32
at Gloucester High School
Weston (11-10) 10 15 11 22 58
Gloucester (12-9) 16 17 13 11 60
Individual statistics
Weston — Dmani Williams 6-8-22, Leo Kirk 6-2-15, Lucas DeFilippo 2-0-4, Beck Simunovic 4-2-10, Brode Kohler 2-1-6, John Sullivan 0-1-1. Totals: 20-19-58.
Gloucester — Cameron Olsen 1-0-2, Carlos Velazquez 1-2-4, Nick Deleon 10-2-26, Ryan Madruga 1-0-2, Andrew Cribbs 2-2-6, Charlie Amero 7-4-20, Jack Silveria 0-0-0, Alex Laine 0-0-0. Totals: 22-10-60.
Halftime: 33-25, Gloucester
3-Pointers: G, Deleon 4, Amero 2; W, Williams 2, Kirk, Kohler.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.