Eastern Athletic Conference rivals Martha’s Vineyard and Bishop Feehan renewed acquaintance Monday in a boys basketball matinee played at the Sancy in Oak Bluffs. For the second year in a row, the Shamrocks dominated on the Vineyarders’ home floor and ran away with a 72-41 win. Bishop Feehan improved to 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the EAC, while the Vineyarders fell to 6-4 and 3-1.
The Feehan victory was comprehensive. The Shamrocks executed with precision on both ends of the floor. They were lights-out shooting from the perimeter, sinking eight treys, and unstoppable in the paint. The visitors also dominated the boards, particularly the offensive glass. The Vineyarders shot poorly throughout, and were repeatedly punished for their mistakes with quick buckets at the other end of the court.
Feehan took command from the opening tip, rolling to an 8-0 lead before Alex Gordon-Beck put the Vineyarders on the board four minutes into the first quarter. The Shamrocks answered with a three-pointer, one of four in the opening eight minutes, and closed out the period with a 19-9 lead.
The Shamrocks increased their lead to 30-13 midway through the second quarter. The Purple responded with their best stretch of the game, putting together a 7-0 run. Matt Stone drained a trey, with Ricardo Andrade and Alex GordonBeck each adding a bucket. As the home fans came to life, the Shamrocks quickly dashed their hopes, ending the half on a 7-0 run of their own to lead 37-20 at the break.
The second half unfolded much like the first, except that Feehan did more damage scoring from inside. Alex GordonBeck produced the most memorable play for the Vineyard, setting up a basket after chasing down a stray ball and keeping it in play with a wild scoop before falling well out of bounds.
Alex GordonBeck led the Vineyarders on the score sheet with 13 points. Ricardo Andrade had 10, Matt Stone scored eight, and Mac Sashin added six more. Michael Nelson (25 points) and Frank Oftring (20) led the way for the Shamrocks.
“There isn’t much you can say after a game like that,” Vineyard coach Mike Joyce said after the loss. “They [Bishop Feehan] beat us forwards, backwards, and sideways. They outplayed us, outhustled us, and outrebounded us. There were no areas of the game left to get beaten at. We have four days to regroup and get ready for Somerset on Friday. We have to figure out what happened between Saturday and Monday. Saturday, we played one of our best games all year [a 67-59 win Jan. 17 at Bishop Stang], and today we just didn’t play at all.”
Friday’s varsity home game against Somerset Berkley tips off at 4:30 pm. The jayvee game starts at 3 pm.
MV falls in jayvee and frosh games
Bishop Feehan also was victorious in the jayvee and freshman boys games played Monday, prior to the varsity contest.
The Vineyard jayvees led by five points with three minutes remaining, but the Shamrocks rallied for a 68-56 win. Jason Lupinski led MV with 15 points, followed by Nick Bond (10), Krishna Datta (9), and Jordan Tate (8).
In the freshman game, Bishop Feehan dominated the first half en route to a 59-33 win. Theo Gallagher was the high scorer for MV with 12 points.
