Norwell Outruns Mashpee in Tuesday Hoop Tilt

MASHPEE — It was a close game for three quarters.

But the fourth quarter clearly belonged to the visiting Norwell High boys basketball team  (2-2) Tuesday night (Dec. 23) as the Clippers ran away with a 48-38 victory over the host Mashpee Falcons (0-3).

Mashpee's Billy McNamara tried to defend a laser-focused Stephen Kulka from Norwell High Tuesday night in a tough, 48-38 loss for the Falcons.  Sean Walsh/CCBM Photos

Mashpee’s Billy McNamara tries to defend a laser-focused Stephen Kulka from Norwell High Tuesday night in a tough, 48-38 loss for the Falcons. Kulka had 17 points.
Sean Walsh/CCBM Photos

Mashpee senior captain Gino Fellini almost single-handedly kept a cold-shooting Falcons’ Five in this affair, with a game-high 18 points on the night, including four three-pointers . Two of Fellini’s downtown bombs were back-to-back in the third quarter but still it was not enough as the Falcons shot a gut-wrenching 26.5% from the floor on the night and went 3-6 from the charity stripe. Fellini’s last three shot of the game missed their mark. His younger brother, Dominick Fellini, a sophomore guard, was the next highest Mashpee scorer with 9 points, including a pair of three-pointers. The younger Fellini shot 50% from the floor while his older sibling went 6-16.

The difference in the 10-point spread at game’s end?

Norwell went 14-18 from the free throw line and was led by the gutsy performance of senior guard Stephen Kulka who poured in 17 points on the night, including a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. He added 7 rebounds to the effort. Fellow senior guard Joey Volpe added 10 points and had five rebounds. Junior center Jack Doherty hauled in 10 rebounds for the Clippers and had eight points to top things off for the visitors.

At the outset, however, it appeared as if this game might be about as low a scoring battle as has been seen in boys hoops on the Cape this season thus far. The score after one quarter was Norwell 7, Mashpee 6. Mashpee missed 19 shots in the first quarter alone. At the half, Norwell clung to a 16-13 lead which remained the same difference after the third at 31-28. In the fourth quarter, key buckets by Volpe, Jack Browne and Tommy Larason, in addition to a 4-4 job at the line by Kulka and a 2-2 performance at the line by both Browne and Doherty, eliminated Mashpee’s chances for a comeback. Both of Dominick Fellini’s three-pointers came in the fourth and Shawn Hendricks’ sole bucket of the night made it 26-25, but Norwell’s Matt Hillsinger came off the bench to drain a pair of baseline jumpers that rendered the host’s efforts moot.

Mashpee will look for its first win of the season on Saturday (Dec. 27) at 3:30 pm against a very tough Martha’s Vineyard team in the Stripes Tournament at Barnstable High School.

Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm

 

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