ATTLEBORO — Having hit eight 3-point field goals during the first half along with nine of its free throw attempts during the second quarter to take a 14-point lead four minutes into the second half, the Bishop Feehan High boys’ basketball team watched the well run dry from there.
Archbishop Williams limited the Shamrocks to just 10 points over the final 12 minutes of the Catholic Central League game Tuesday night at McIntyre Gymnasium, scoring 14 unanswered points in one stretch and going home with a 72-69 heart-stopper of a victory.
Facing a 70-62 deficit with just under four minutes remaining, Shamrock junior guard Jack Chabot (22 points) scored seven straight points on a pair of drives to the basket and converted an offensive rebound for a three-point play with 1:58 remaining to be played.
The Shamrocks (3-2) then went two possessions without scoring while the Bishops (5-2) also went two possessions without a field goal, missing a pair of free throws.
With 19.9 ticks of the clock remaining and the ball in the Shamrocks’ possession, Bishop Feehan saw a drive to the basket circle the rim, then the collection of an offensive rebound on the play result in a turnover.
The Bishops converted a one-and-one chance with three seconds to go to make it a three-point edge. Having one last chance and the length of the floor to travel, the Shamrocks had a court-length pass fall out of bounds without a potential game-tying shot being taken.
Junior guard Cooper Snead hit six 3-point field goals for Bishop Feehan, finishing with 24 points. He scored 12 first quarter points, one of five Shamrocks to contribute points in a session which saw Bishop Feehan shoot 8-for-16 from the floor and hit six 3-pointers over the first eight minutes.
“We played our best offensive game of the season and when you score 69 points, you think you’re going to win,” Bishop Feehan coach Dean O’Connor said.
“Usually, we’re a pretty good defensive team,” O’Connor added. “We tried a bunch of things, we took away 20 (junior forward Josh Campbell, 31 points, 10 rebounds) and then 11 (junior guard Brendan Foster, 16 points with five 3-pointers) started hitting outside shots. They kept scoring and we couldn’t get enough stops.”
The Bishops hit on a trio of third quarter 3-pointers, while scoring 15 points in the paint.
The Bishops scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter — Campbell converting an offensive rebound and a drive, Foster hitting a trifecta and Andre Espaillat converting a steal to put Archbishop Williams in front 66-62 at the two-minute mark.
“We did a lot of good things offensively and I’m happy that we had some guys (Chabot, Snead) who haven’t had a chance to play much do well,” O’Connor said.
Bishop Feehan shot just 6-for-20 from the floor in the third quarter, 3-for-17 in the fourth quarter, mis-firing on their first eight field goal attempts, not scoring for five-plus minutes.
“I like where we’re headed, we played well for long stretches,” O’Connor said.”We knew 20 (Campbell) and 44 (Kevin Hamilton, 16 points) were the guys to stop and Foster was the shooter and those were the guys that we didn’t stop.”
The Shamrocks were unable to defend the Bishops in the paint, Archbishop Williams totaling 17 of its 20 first quarter points in the lane. Campbell scored 14 points alone over the first eight minutes.
Sophomore Max Crawford hit two consecutive 3-pointers for the Shamrocks to create a 27-20 lead. Bishop Feehan then broke a 27-all tie by scoring 19 points over the final four minutes of the first half.
Snead hit a pair of 3-point shots and also converted a steal into a three-point play, while Dylan Capua hit all six of his charity tosses, the Shamrocks taking a 46-35 lead at intermission.
The Shamrocks are slated for a 5 p.m. tipoff Sunday at home against Mansfield.
Peter Gobis may be reached at 508-236-0375
Credit: Source link