By Noah Tellez
The Mashpee Boys Basketball Program has seen many successes in its history, as have other sports in the Mashpee school system. However, a season as promising as this one does not come around to often. The amount of talent that this particular squad has is actually being effectively showcased thus far, which is solid considering the opposition the team has faced.
The Falcons have played 6 games thus far, and 5 of which have been victories. Of these five, most have been absolute 20 point blowout games, including the most recent on Tuesday night, which the Falcons triumphed at home over the Cohasset Skippers 59-34 after being down at the half. Just to put it in perspective, the Falcons have also beaten in ridiculous fashion East Bridgewater, Randolph, Dennis Yarmouth, in 20 point victories.
The Mashpee Boys Basketball Program has seen many successes in its history, as have other sports in the Mashpee school system. However, a season as promising as this one does not come around to often. The amount of talent that this particular squad has is actually being effectively showcased thus far, which is solid considering the opposition the team has faced.
The Falcons have played 6 games thus far, and 5 of which have been victories. Of these five, most have been absolute 20 point blowout games, including the most recent on Tuesday night, which the Falcons triumphed at home over the Cohasset Skippers 59-34 after being down at the half. Just to put it in perspective, the Falcons have also beaten in ridiculous fashion East Bridgewater, Randolph, Dennis Yarmouth, in 20 point victories.
In these triumphs stars are beginning to rise, including a strong sophomore class. Of the five starters on the squad, two are sophomores but they carry a lot of the burden. First comes all-sport star Devaun Ford, a 6’0” guard averaging around 20 points per game including a huge 31 point showing against East Bridgewater last week. The other sophomore starter is 6’5” big man Jack Gumbert, who has really risen into the limelight in a huge way this year, playing some very good minutes for the Falcons after losing big men Joey Spinola and Alex Monterrey last season. Also notable is crafty junior guard Michael Fraser and one of the team’s few seniors Dom Fellini, who both carry a large offensive and defensive load for the Falcons.
“We’re definitely happy with the season thus far,” Ford said when asked about the situation the squad is at, “but we realize that we have a lot of work to do to get to a higher level and hang another banner at the end of the season, and I think that we can get there."
As for sophomore Jack Gumbert, he had another take on the matter, saying, “Our record is certainly great. It shows the work we have all put in to ready ourselves for the season, but honestly we really could be unbeaten right now, and we cannot have any more dumb losses come playoff time.”
Regardless, Mashpee has seen a ton of blowouts in these victories. Of these wins, the standout has been the second half defense. In the two more recent games against EB and Coho, the Falcons have surrendered a total of four points in the third quarters of the games. Yes, four points in both third quarters, two in each game. This has scored blowout victories after shaky first halves, which will need to be resurrected in order to keep this success moving forward.
The Falcons have a long course head of them, and there are still more than 10 games left. However, the hopes for this season are extremely high, and you never know but just maybe we will get another banner hanging from the gym rafters.