Alex GordonBeck threw in 18 points grabbed 9 rebounds (unofficially) and notched 4 steals to lead the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys basketball team to a convincing 73-53 victory over rival Wareham in state tournament play Thursday.
Navardo Anderson scored 14, DeShawn James scored 13, and Kane Araujo scored 12 in a powerfully balanced offensive attack.
But it was GordonBeck who put the “wow” in the Vineyarders second consecutive blowout win in the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.
“He was everywhere,” head coach Mike Joyce said after the game. “The defensive effort by our guys was tremendous. I don’t know if we’ve played that hard all year.”
The Vineyarders jumped out to a 21-5 lead after the first quarter, led 33-17 at the half, and had to hold off a third quarter charge by the Wareham Vikings.
After Wareham made two steals, and sank two 3-pointers, they cut the margin to 10 points late in the third quarter. Mr. Anderson responded with a strong inside basket, and Mr. Araujo drained two 3-pointers of his own. Mr. GordonBeck opened the fourth quarter with a steal and a breakaway layup to get the game back in hand.
“I’m feeling real good to get that win, beating them by 20,” Mr. GordonBeck said after the game. “We stepped up as a team together. We shut them down, didn’t let them play their style.”
The team moves on to the Division 3 semifinals, against the winner of the Cardinal Spellman-Dedham game. The semifinal game will be played at a neutral off-Island site, but the time and the place have not yet been decided.