Taunton’s Big Second Half Proves Too Much For KP

 
 
 WRENTHAM, Mass. – After combining for over 150 points in their first meeting, it looked like Taunton and King Philip were set for another barn burner on Saturday night.

The two squads went toe-to-toe for the first two quarters, trading baskets back and forth with both sides finding success on offense, resulting in over 70 points through 16 minutes of action.

That offensive success only continued for one squad though as Taunton continued to light up the scoreboard and ran away with a 75-53 win after dominating the final two frames.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“I thought our defense led into our offense in that second half,” said Taunton head coach Charlie Dacey. “It’s like every other team out there, when we play with confidence we play a lot better. Our confidence usually comes from the offense, but it should come from the defense because we work so hard on it.”

King Philip shot nearly 70% in the opening eight minutes en route to 21 points and hit a total of seven threes from the floor in the first half for a total of 34 points.

Taunton got stronger as the half went on, hitting five shots from the field in the first and then eight more in the second. Cyrus Morissette and Matt Small (nine rebounds) gave the Tigers necessary secondary scoring with King Philip’s defense zeroed in on Trent Santos, who still fought his way to 16 points in the first half.

Santos, who finished with 34 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the floor and 9-for-10 at the free throw line, picked up right where he left off and gave the Tigers a big boost early in the third, which turned out to be the game-changing quarter. Santos took a pass from Tristan Herry (10 points, six assists) and drained a three, and then Troy Santos stepped in to draw an offensive foul. On the ensuing possession, Herry found Trent Santos again for another triple as Taunton’s four-point edge at half quickly grew to 44-34.

Will Laplante (22 points, five rebounds) drilled a deep three, and Braeden Sottile (seven points, 11 rebounds) cleaned up his own miss to get KP within two possessions at 45-39 but the Tigers closed the final five minutes of the frame with a 10-3 run.

Faisal Mass, who missed the majority of the first half after picking up a pair of fouls, drove to the basket for two, and then Herry converted a putback after getting possession for the Tigers with a steal.

Sottile drained a three off a pass from Grant Kinney (eight points) but Santos answered with another triple of his own and then Mass showed off his range with a nice step-back three-pointer with just over a minute to go. And then Taunton drew another charge on the other end to get the ball back, taking a 55-42 lead into the fourth.

“It was Faisal,” Dacey said of the difference in the second half. Mass scored 14 points and hauled in all five of his rebounds after the halftime break. “Having him on the floor, he stabilizes things underneath. We’re a better rebounding team, we’re not a great rebounding team but we’re certainly better with him on the floor. Matt [Small] does everything he can but Faisal has some strength and some bulk underneath.”

The momentum continued for Taunton to start the fourth, this time in the form of a 12-4 run. Morissette attacked the offensive glass for two, Mass (19 points, five rebounds) dropped in an easy two after a nice pass from Herry, Santos drove to the basket for two and then added two free throws, and then Mass and Santos took turns with two points apiece as the Tigers’ lead ballooned to 67-47 just before the midway point of the fourth.

After King Philip put up 34 points in the first half, the Warriors had just 19 points in the second half. Taunton sophomore Troy Santos had a big showing defensively for the Tigers.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“I thought a lot of their shots in the first half, even ones they made, were contested tough shots,” said King Philip head coach Dave DeStefano. “I thought we did a great job in the first half but they grabbed the momentum the first four minutes of the second half and we just couldn’t keep up. They hit a lot of tough shots on us, they did a great job on offense in terms of getting Trent open on a lot of action, and because of that, it got other guys involved.

“We got a little stagnant with our ball movement in the second half. I think we tried to do a little too much one-on-one, and I think we saw what they were doing offensively and we tried to hurry up to catch up when we didn’t need to, and that led to shots that weren’t the best for us, times we could have gotten better looks.”

Taunton boys basketball (12-0 Hockomock, 12-1) has a quick turnaround as they return home for a Sunday matinee with New Bedford at 2:00. King Philip (2-9, 4-10) also is right back in action on Sunday with its final crossover game on tap with a visit to Foxboro for a 1:00 PM tipoff.