Families, students, and fans stormed the Island’s high school basketball court on Friday after the MVRHS boys basketball team came back from a big deficit and took down a disciplined Monomoy Regional High School team in a nailbiter.
The Vineyard boys clawed their way back from down 15 after the first quarter — not having scored a single point — before tying the game for the first time of the night in the final minutes of the fourth. The fanfare culminated with a game-winning, buzzer-beating layup from Jacoby Light (No. 1).
“We have done some crazy things this year, we even made a basket in the wrong hoop one time,” said an excited coach Mike Joyce after Friday’s game. “We had to play so hard to get back in that game and a lot of times when you do that and get back and you don’t have enough to finish, but the guys really did. And then of course Jacoby [Light] hit an incredible shot at the buzzer.”
Monomoy opened the scoring first, with back to back, to back, to back fast breaks and near-perfect defensive stands, dominating the Vineyard basketball team and earning themselves a 15-0 lead going into the second.
But the energy shifted in the second quarter, when two minutes in, Miles Hayes (No. 4) broke the shutout, pulling up for a clean jump shot at the free-throw line for the first Island points of the night.
From there on out and despite being down by nearly 20, the Vineyard basketball team made it clear: they were there for a grudge match — contesting every shot, pass, and offensive drive Monomoy had to offer. But when the half came, the Vineyarders were still down 35-17.
At halftime, lighthearted smiles and cheers overtook the crowd as they shouted for a chance to be one of the four people selected from the stands to participate in a half-court shot competition. To everyone’s surprise, senior Jordan Souza shot first and drained his shot. The crowd erupted and he earned himself 2800 ($22.99) Fortnite V-Bucks as prize.
Inside the Vineyard’s locker room, coach Joyce was fueling the fire for a comeback.
“I said look…, we are going to press and either get beat by 80 or you’re going to start digging in and seeing what happens,” said coach Joyce. “And they did; that press cooked.”
As the third rolled around, the Vineyarders were searching for that tipping point play, and it came from senior Naythan Ribeiro (No. 2). Ribeiro aggressively pressured a lone Monomoy point guard at center court when he forced a turnover and took it to the hoop for a relaxed two-point layup. For the next three minutes, it rained Vineyard threes. At 25-35, for the first time of the night, Monomoy felt the Island team breathing down their necks.
As time in the third quarter dwindled, the intensity inside the building rose, and classic chants like “defense” and “butterfingers” broke out from the high spirited Vineyard student section. When the third quarter dust settled, the Vineyard had cut the deficit to two with a score of 42-44.
As the two teams retook the court for the fourth quarter, the battle ensued, each team’s defense was disciplined and desperate, making points hard to come by for both teams. But with two minutes remaining, Hayes pressed into the Monomoy slot and pulled up for a jump shot, knotting the score at 53-53 and pulling the Vineyard even for the first time.
With 32 seconds left, the Vineyarders took control, working their way around the perimeter of the offensive zone with a series of passes and well-placed screens. The ball eventually found Light in the corner, just inside the three point line. He drove toward the rim but Monomoy’s defense closed in fast. Trapped beneath the basket and surrounded by a wall of Monomoy defenders, Light desperately tossed the ball toward the hoop. The gym fell silent as the ball bounced off the backboard, rolled off the rim, and dropped through the netting. The silence was shattered and the building erupted as the crowd and Vineyard team stormed the court to celebrate the hard fought victory.
Joyce, after the game, said he was proud of the way his team had played.
“When we play with great effort, we are a pretty good team,” he said.
The Vineyard team is now 6-6 on the season and will be back at the high school’s gym on Wednesday to take on Dennis Yarmouth Regional High school, and again on Saturday to take on the Nantucket Whalers.