The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys basketball team moved one step closer to clinching a berth in the MIAA Division 3 state tournament by overwhelming the Somerset Berkley Blue Raiders, 74-44, on Friday at the Sancy Pachico Gymnasium in Oak Bluffs.
With the win over their Eastern Athletic Conference (EAC) rivals, the Vineyarders are 9-2, and will qualify for the playoffs with a home win over Dennis-Yarmouth on Tuesday afternoon.
Ricardo Andrade, Nick Bond, Dylan Araujo, and Jordan Tate all drained three-pointers in the first quarter as the Vineyarders lit up the Blue Raider defense from the outside and built a 21-10 lead.
The hosts continued to pour it on in the second period. By halftime, MV led 44-24.
While the Vineyard offense cooled somewhat in the second half, the suffocating MV defense was relentless, and refused to let the Blue Raiders into the game. Somerset Berkley sharpshooters Liam McDonald, Chase Stafford, and Justin Kerns combined to score just 17 points in the game.
As the Vineyard lead increased to 67-33 by the end of the third period, the already physical game grew ill-tempered.
“Well, it obviously got a little chippy,” Vineyard Coach Mike Joyce said after the game. “Defensively, we’ve come and played every game lately and that’s what we need to do all the time. With our speed and athleticism, when we play good defense, it creates easy offense. We still have to work out offensively making good choices all the time. We have good runs, but we have times where we fall asleep a bit. We force some things, when we could take our time and make really good opportunities.”
Ricardo Andrade led all scorers with 20 points and Nick Bond added 17.
Tuesday’s varsity game against Dennis-Yarmouth tips off at 4:30 pm. The JV contest starts at 3 pm.