Sports
By Don Lyons - March 9, 2006
Ben Madeiras drives to the hoop with Ricky DaSilva on his tail at New Bedford.
Photos by Ralph Stewart
Hoopmen get by N.B. Voke...
In the first round of Division 3 South basketball play, the Vineyard, seeded 12th, defeated the 5th seed, Greater New Bedford Vocational, on the Bears' home court, Thursday, 71-65.
New Bedford knew the Vineyard's strength and gave extra attention to the team's high scorer, Matt Rivers, holding him to five points in the first half and building a 10 point lead half way through the period. But a three point play by Ben Madeiras, a steal and court-long drive by John Swan, a deuce by Rivers and another by Madeiras put the Islanders just one point down. Then the Bears' Ricky DaSilva hit three in a row from beyond the arc to restore the Bears' lead, but MV had recovered their game and at the break trailed by only three, 34-31.
Rivers found his rhythm and a way to score 20 points in the second period, more than half of them in the final six minutes when the Islanders caught up and passed the Bears with 6:43 left on the clock.
In a very real sense, despite the fast breaks, tough D, and the battles under the glass, the game was won quietly at the foul line. MV cashed 18 freebies to the Vokes' 10.
More than a busload of fans accompanied the team via fast ferry and chartered bus in one of this winter's heaviest snowstorms.
...but not Norwell
It was not the Vineyard's finest hour, but it probably didn't matter. Norwell was a taller, stronger team with more guns and they enjoyed whatever advantage adheres to the home court, Friday.
Neither side covered itself with glory at the start. Passes went to no one in particular or were intercepted or were fumbled. Shots bounced harmlessly off the rim. After four minutes of play the score stood at 3-2, Norwell up. Moments later, two hoops by Bubba Brown put the Vineyard ahead, 6-5. That would be the Island team's only lead.
Norwell ran off 19 points to the Vineyard's 2, a stop and pop by Jacob Vanderhoop. At the half the Clippers led, 31-16.
The closest the Islanders would come was 50-43 with five and a half minutes left on the clock. But Norwell quickly responded with 8 unanswered points, restoring its 16-point advantage.
When the Vineyard resorted to desperation intentional fouling to stop the clock, Norwell dropped 12 of 15 freebies, padding its lead to a final, 70-52.
Tuesday, Norwell defeated heavily favored Dedham at Milton, 46-45 qualifying for the championship round versus Archbishop Williams, conqueror of Medfield, 59-53.
Davey Campbell breaks into the
Canton zone pursued by the Bulldogs.
Mincone's minions move up
After disposing of the fourth seeded Canton Bulldogs at the Gallo Arena, 2-1, on Wednesday, the Vineyarders moved on to top Boston Latin, also at Gallo, on Saturday.
Canton opened the scoring three minutes after the opening faceoff, but before the period was over, the Islanders scored twice, taking a lead they would neither embellish nor cede.
MV's first point was provided by Scott Maciel, assisted by Joel Rebello and Scott Cleary, at 8:10. Five minutes later Rebello's hot shot bounced off a Bulldog's skate over the glove of goalie Mark Eadie, an unassisted goal.
The second period was painful. The Bulldogs enjoyed five power plays but were unable to find a way past goalie Alex Minnehan. MV managed only two shots on the Canton goal, while Minnehan turned away a dozen.
The third period was played even-steven, with neither team able to score. MV 2, Canton 1.
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Veni, Vidi, Vici
Saturday, against 12th-seeded Boston Latin, conquerors of the 5th seed, Quincy, the Vineyarders scored three early goals and made them hold up to win. They move on to the semifinal round tomorrow.
The game was hardly more than two minutes old when the Vineyard posted its first goal. Joel Rebello snagged the rebound of a shot by Matt Flynn and fired it into the net before goalie Chris Houlihan could recover. Flynn and Scott Maciel were awarded assists.
Less than a minute later Ryan Rossi jumped on another rebound and sent it home, assisted by Mitch Pachico and Nick Billingham.
Later, Alex Avaikian scored on a power play, assisted by Scott Maciel, and the Vineyard was ahead, 3-0.
From then on the Islanders withdrew into a defensive posture; Coach Matt Mincone characterized it as "playing not to lose."
Latin scored once in the second period and once more in the third, but the Islanders held on to the lead thanks in large part to the efforts of goalie Alex Minnehan.
The Vineyard plays Coyle & Cassidy in the semifinals at 5:45 pm tomorrow at the Gallo Arena. C&C is the number one seed in Division 2 South with a 21-1 record. They won the ninth Fairleigh Dickinson tourney here in mid-February and shut out Sandwich on Monday, 4-0,
Good deal for fans
Fifteen dollars ($15) gets an adult a round trip ride on the ferry (3:45 pm) and fan bus to and from Gallo Arena, Friday. For students the fee is $10.
See more hockey photos here >
Molly Fisher scoops for WesTiz.
Volleyball
The 2006 interscholastic volleyball season got underway Monday when the Edgartown varsity and junior varsity teams visited West Tisbury with their coach Gary Smith.
It was an auspicious beginning for Edgartown; they won every game. First it was the Eagle jayvees winning quickly, 25-9. Daniel Durawa served up nine aces in the game for the Eagles. The second JV game was a marathon 30-28 overtime win for the Eagles.
The Edgartown varsity took three games in tandem: 25-14, 25-12, and 25-23.
Tuesday, at Vineyard Haven, Tisbury was host to last year's champions, the Oak Blufffs Blazers. The first varsity game went to Tisbury, 25-14. With Lauren McLaine at the line, Tisbury ran off 12 points in a row.The second game was a cliffhanger; Down 23-15, OB pulled it out as Seneca Craig served 10 points in a row
The thrid game was no-contest. Gail Herman's service put OB ahead 12-1 and they never looked back. Final 25-7.
The fourth game was won by Tisbury, 25-18. Neither team was able to sustain a run of more than three points.
The deciding match went to the hosts 15-12. Willy Nevin served up the last eight points for Tisbury.
In Junior varsity play Tisbury won the best two of three series, 2-1, winning the first game, 25-17, losing the second 21-25 and winning the decider 15-13.Today Tisbury is home to Edgartown.
