The MVRHS boys basketball team didn’t come away with a win from their matchup against Nantucket at TD Garden in Boston on Sunday afternoon. But Coach Mike Joyce said that they had an amazing experience playing on the Boston’s Celtics’ parquet.
“They were eating it up,” Joyce said of his squad after the game. “They were a little nervous at first. It’s a hard place to get going because of the space; it’s such a big arena. But it was a tremendous experience.”
Nantucket would take the rivalry game win, 67 – 59. But it was close all the way to the end, with the Vineyarders closing the gap down to 2 points at times. But Joyce said that Nantucket was able to execute just a little bit better. “Nantucket deserved it,” Joyce said. “They played hard and made shots when they had to. It was a good game.”
Joyce also said that the Vineyard fans were great. Two buses full of students made the trip on Sunday, or about 500 fans. “The turnout was great,” the coach said.
Sam Zack was the leading scorer for the Vineyard with 15 points; Nate Story and Josh Lake came away with 13 points each.
The game was a part of a fundraiser for the Andrew James Lawson Foundation, a Norwell-based nonprofit organization established to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience inclusion in their communities. The inter-Island matchup was one of several varsity basketball games hosted during the foundation’s TD Garden Invitational.
