SHARON, Mass. — The Attleboro boys basketball team led from start to finish on the road at Sharon on Tuesday night, but it was far from a comfortable win.
The Bombardiers looked poised to pull away on a number of occasions throughout its 77-68 road win, but just when it appeared Attleboro had a comfortable cushion, the Eagles chipped away to make a game of it.
There was the 13-point lead in the first quarter that shrunk to six in just seconds. And then another double-digit advantage, up 33-22 with less than 90 seconds to go in the half that Sharon quickly cut in half to trail b just five at the halftime break.
The trend continued in the third, with Attleboro’s lead twice ballooning back up to 11, first on a bucket from senior Joe Francois-Annevil (seven points, six rebounds, four assists) on a nice drive to the rim, and then again on a two-handed slam from junior Trevor White to give Attleboro not only a 46-35 but the Bombardiers got the ball back after a block from Alvin Harrison (10 points) on the defensive end.
Instead, it was Sharon who responded with a 12-4 burst. A three-point play from senior Donyae Pierre preceded a triple from sophomore Jacob McLoughlin (10 points). After a couple of stops, Sam Cohen (eight points, five rebounds) sank a triple and a midrange jumper from Matt Baur (22 points, five rebounds, three assists) made it 50-47 with just under two minutes to go in the third.
Jake Struminski had back-to-back finishes in close and White (career-high 31 points, six rebounds) added another one of his two-handed slams to stem the tide with the Bombardiers ahead 56-49 going into the fourth.
It was more of a back-and-forth fourth quarter with Harrison, Francois-Annevil, and White finding success attacking the basket for the Bombardiers. Meanwhile, Pierre, Baur, and a three-point play from Will Hippler kept the Eagles close, down 62-56 with five minutes to go.
“We were just inconsistent throughout that game,” said Attleboro head coach Mark Houle. “We were really good at times and then they were able to turn us over and they looked really good at times. To their credit, they’ve had a good year so far and played with a lot of confidence. Our lack of understanding time and score in certain situations kind of hurt us.
“We were prepared for their zone and I thought we looked good the last time a team threw that at us but we stopped getting paint touches and relied on the three-point shot. It can obviously help if you’re making them but when you’re not, you have to change your course of action.”
Attleboro tied its largest lead of the game after senior Evan Houle (17 points, seven assists) threaded the needle with a pass through Sharon’s zone to White down on the baseline for a dunk that established a 71-58 lead with three minutes to go.
But a steal and layup from McLoughlin was followed by an off-balance three-pointer from senior John Baez, and after another stop on defense, Baur found McLoughlin for a three, and just like that, it was 71-66 with two minutes to play.
Like it had throughout the game, Attleboro kept its lead. The Bombardiers never let it slip away and hit a couple of key free throws down the stretch to keep the Eagles at bay to secure a 77-68 win.
“It was just our effort, the guys were just grinding,” said Sharon head coach Andrew Ferguson. “We’ve been in a little bit of a slide but we’re just trying to work through our process. We think if we stick to our core values and we work through our process, the results will come. They dug in and they were grinding the entire second half to keep it close. There’s a tremendous amount of belief in this group and they really worked at it.”
White proved to be too hard to stop for the Eagles, who were without sophomore big man Nate Katznelson for the season straight game. After not taking a shot in the first quarter and scoring seven points in the second, White sliced through the Sharon defense time and time again to net 13 points in the third quarter and 11 points in the fourth. He finished 11-for-14 from two-point range.
“He’s working hard in practice and I think we’re starting to get more comfortable playing together as a team,” Houle said. “And obviously he’s a big part of that. He’s very talented and has a lot of skillsets that make him a tough match-up for a lot of teams. When he’s running the court, and we can get our inside-out game going, it helps. He did a nice job running the floor and our guys did a nice job finding him there and finding him in the half court too.”
Evan Houle and sophomore Neo Franco (six points, nine assists, three steals) set the tone early for the visitors. Franco had a pair of three-pointers early and a pair of steals while Houle went 4-for-6 from the floor, also connecting on a pair of trifectas. Attleboro, however, only hit one more three the rest of the game, coming off the fingertips of White with 2:27 to go in the second quarter.
Like White, Baur didn’t score in the first quarter but he was Sharon’s leading scorer by halftime. He erupted for eight points in less than two minutes, converting a traditional three-point play, sinking two more free throws, and then drained a three after an offensive rebound from Pierre cut into Attleboro’s lead, 35-30, at halftime.
Sharon continuously cut double-digit deficits down to a two-possession game, getting as close as three near the end of the third and then within five with two minutes to go in the game, but the Eagles were never able to get over the hump and go ahead.
“Trevor White is probably the answer,” Ferguson said of being unable to take the lead. “We just didn’t have an answer for him, he played amazing. Donyae absolutely worked his butt off but when you’re giving up five to six inches to a player like that…Houle hit a couple of threes in the first half to get them going. They’re an unbelievably physical team. I thought our guys battled with them. I thought anytime we needed a stop or a rebound, they were just able to convert and hurt us.”
Attleboro boys basketball (7-2 Hockomock, 9-2 overall) carries a four-game win streak into its home contest with Mansfield on Friday. Sharon (5-4, 7-4) will look to snap its three-game skid when it hosts rival Stoughton on the same night,
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