NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Make it two in a row.
After snapping its 22-game losing streak on Sunday, North Attleboro won their second consecutive game with a 48-31 victory over Sharon.
With one win under its belt, North Attleboro came out with tons of energy and used that to a big first half lead.
“I think mental is bigger than most people give it credit it for so I think a lot,” North Attleboro head coach Sean Mulkerrins said of how much the win on Sunday factored into Tuesday night’s affair. “We certainly showed our youth when we tensed up in that third quarter but had we not won the other day, I hate to say we would have done what we have done in the past but I’m sure it was in their heads.”
The Rocketeers (2-2) jumped all over the Eagles (1-2) early on and their 2-3 zone defense limited Sharon from getting any rhythm going offensively.
Sophomore Jonny Friberg proved pivotal early on on both ends of the court. Offensively, Friberg led all scorers with five points to help give the Rocketeers 12 points after the first. Defensively, Friberg used his height to disrupt anything in the lane for the Eagles as Sharon shot just 2/11 from the field in the opening frame for five points total.
The second quarter North received some energy and contributions from their bench. Both Kyle Gaumond and Sam Morrison stepped in to extend North’s lead to nine, Gaumond found Ridge Olsen for a bucket and then sophomore Thomas Reynolds drained a three to make it 21-7. Sophomore Brent Doherty drained a three then set up a bucket for senior Conor Carmichael to give the Rocketeers a 29-11 lead heading into halftime.
The third quarter belonged to Sharon, who made an adjustment at halftime and went into a zone of their own in the second half. The switch paid dividends as the Eagles limited North to just five points in the third quarter while their offense was finally able to get something going, scoring 14 points. The lead shrunk to nine, 34-25, heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles were able to keep things close and North’s offense off balance. With the Rocketeers holding a nine point lead at 36-27, freshman Chad Peterson stepped up and drained a three. After two empty trips from the Eagles, Peterson faked a step to the hoop and pulled up for three from straightaway and drained it, giving North their fusion of 15 points back, 42-27.
“That was huge,” Mulkerrins said of Peterson’s two three-pointers. “I believe you if you say [the lead] was nine but it felt like to me like it was one. Chad Peterson’s only a freshman and what I love about Chad is that he understands his young position. Sometimes he respects it too much, I had to say to him that he’s on the team for a reason and when he gets an open look to shoot it and it was big that he made both of them.”
From Peterson’s second three at 5:38 on, the Rocketeers held Sharon to just four points.
“I’m really disappointed because we had been playing well, we just didn’t shoot,” Sharon head coach Bruce Jackman said. “Don’t take anything away from North, they played very well and Sean [Mulkerrins] had a good game plan. We practiced against that zone and we knew it was going to come and we did a good job of getting ourselves in spots to shoot the ball, we had a lot of open looks but if you don’t put it in that’s what happens.”
The Eagles finished shooting just 27% from the floor and hit just two three-pointers on 17 attempts.
Olsen finished with a game-high 10 points and nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Morrison finished with eight for North and Doherty added seven points and four rebounds. Sharon’s Bryce Smith had a team-high nine points and sophomore Ricardo Ripley added seven points.
Sharon will look to bounce back over the holiday break at the Bridgewater-Raynham tournament, taking on Falmouth, the team North Attleboro beat on Sunday. North Attleboro enters a grueling stretch of their schedule, starting with a trip to Bishop Feehan on December 30th.
Ryan Lanigan can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @R_Lanigan.