ATTLEBORO, Mass. - In the second game of a boys/girls doubleheader, the Bishop Feehan High School Shamrocks (4-0) boys topped their crosstown rivals, the Attleboro High School Blue Bombardiers (3-2), 58-51, Friday night at AHS.
Sophomore guard Mike Nelson lead the way for the Shamrocks, scoring 17, 12 of which came from the free throw line.
"The foul line was big [for Feehan]," said Attleboro coach Mark Houle, who's team surrendered 19 from the line. "You can't give teams foul-shot opportunity after foul-shot opportunity."
Attleboro's Tim Walsh lead the game in points with 21, including a couple of threes from deep out.
The game was very a much a back and forth battle from the start, with both teams responding to the other. Walsh gave Attleboro an advantage when he hit a deep three to give his team a 7-4 lead a few minutes into the first quarter, but Feehan crawled back a few minutes later as Ryan Costello hit a three to tie it 9-9, and Nelson would take the lead for the Shamrocks with a shot on their next drive.
Kyle Murphy would tie it back up a few seconds layer, and added another off a resulting free throw attempt to give the Bombardiers the narrow 12-11 lead at the end of the quarter.
Attleboro came out strong in the second quarter, scoring on two of their first three chances, a layup by EJ Santarpio and another three from Walsh, plus one of two from the line for Walsh after being fouled on by Feehan's Frank Oftring, to give them a seven point lead.
Feehan fought back though, as a quick five points from an Austin Burlone three and an Oftring layup, and both teams were once again back and forth for the rest of the half. Brandon Clark, who had a third best 13 points on the night, brought the lead back up to four with two shots late in the quarter, but Burlone hit a three in the final seconds to bring his team back within one, narrowly trailing Attleboro 24-23 at halftime.
Clark added another two shortly after the start of the third, but shortly after Feehan would go on a hot streak and take a lead they would never again relinquish. Nicolas Botelho brought them within one and then took the lead on a pair of shots, which would soon grow to six after four points from Oftring.
Attleboro would not back down, but the Shamrocks managed, for the most part, to keep their lead by over a basket, the closest coming within two late in the quarter when a shot from Murphy brought it 41-39, but Burlone would increase the Feehan lead again to four almost immediately after Murphy's shot.
Attleboro went on a cold streak to end the quarter as Feehan added two more from Nelson's free throws to give the Shamrocks a 45-39 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Santarpio struck from in the paint to bring Attleboro within four at the start of the fourth quarter, but from their, Feehan would go on to take their biggest lead of the night, eight points, soon after following two free throws from Costello. The Bombardiers, however, soon shrunk that to five when Walsh hit a three to make it 49-44.
Scoring would slow down for a little until Walsh hit a shot to bring the Bombardiers with three, but Feehan immediately responded with an Oftring layup. Walsh would hit one of his two free throw attempts later, and Santarpio added another shot to bring Attleboro within two as the clock winded down, but a few late misses resulted in needing to foul to stop the clock, all of which went for Nelson, who went 9/10 on the opportunities.
A foul on Walsh by Burlone gave the senior captain two free throw chances, both of which he made, but it would do little and the Shamrocks would finish the game 58-51.
The Bombardiers return to action on Monday as they'll host Dartmouth in another non-league game.