Vineyard hoopsters take four of five

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Nick Costello drove to the basket against Sandwich in the boys jayvee game, Monday at MVRHS. — Photo by Ralph Stewart

All five of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School basketball teams — girls and boys varsity, girls and boys jayvees, and the freshman boys — were in action at the Francis “Sancy” Pachico gymnasium in the past week.

Monday, the junior squads played a triple-header against Sandwich to tip off the new year.

First on the court were the Vineyard freshman, who bested the Blue Knights, 67-53.

The Frosh were fab in the first half and went to the locker room up 40-12. But the visitors girded up their loins and made a game of it. Sandwich closed the gap to 54-37 after three quarters and continued to chip away at the Vineyard lead until the end.

The Vineyard girls jayvees played next and smothered Sandwich in the first half. M.V. led 15-6 at the half, but the Blue Knights regrouped after the break. Sandwich roared back to tie it at 19, and then sprinted to the finish line to claim a 39-28 victory.

The boys JV game was a seesaw affair with a multitude of fouls, some of the technical variety, but at the end the day, the game belonged to the Islanders, 67-55. Kane Araujo, Navardo Anderson, and Jamari Thomas were the high scorers for the Vineyard.

But it was a whole team effort, and needed to be.

Lancers are skewered

Norton sent its girls and boys varsity hoops teams to the Island to challenge the Vineyarders on Wednesday, December 28. If they were planning to defeat the talented Islanders, their plans went awry.

The girls starting five — Jennie Lindland, Maggie Riseborough, Maddie Hughes, Kendall Robinson, and Alex Marx — wasted little time in putting the home team ahead. It was 11-5 after one quarter.

By the mid-game break the lead had shrunk to six, 37-31. The Norton girls actually led at the end of the first period, 24-21.

But the second half belonged to the Vineyarders who out scored the Lancers 34-20, with seven by Hanna Persson, to claim the win, 61-44.

The Vineyard girls are 4-1 on the season. They play at Bishop Feehan, Friday, January 6, and entertain Somerset Berkley on Tuesday, January 10.

The JVs play at 4 pm, the Varsity at 5:30 pm.

The Vineyard varsity boys closed out the day’s action and dominated Norton, 71-56. During the game, Peter Keaney scored his 1000th career point, retiring the ball with which he did the deed and acknowledging a standing O from a large crowd of Vineyard supporters.

The handwriting on the wall was easily read as the Islanders jumped to an 18-11 lead in the first quarter and made it 37-20 by the half. They sank 8 of 8 freebies late in the second period.

Norton held its own in the second half but could not gain on the Islanders. Peter Keaney reached the 1,000 point plateau with a lay-up to make the score 67-50 late in the fourth quarter.

Jack Roberts finished with the game-high 31 points. He was 8 for 8 from the foul line and sank four from downtown.

Ryan Fisher scored ten points and his persistent defense limited Norton’s best scorer to seven points.

The Vineyarders are 4-0 on the year.

This Saturday, the boys Freshmen, JV and Varsity teams are home to Bishop Feehan at 12:30, 2:00, and 3:30 pm, respectively.