EAST SANDWICH – When the finely tuned engine of a vintage muscle car turns over, there’s no sound quite as mesmerizing as the throaty purr of all cylinders feeding off the gasoline.
When the Sandwich High boys’ basketball team (20-1) got rolling in Wednesday night’s 72-48 Diviision 2 tourney-opening win over Sharon, it was the high-octane sound of 1,000 screaming fans that fueled the Blue Knights’ scoring machine.
Sandwich High’s Joey Downes scoed a game-high 23 points to help lead the Blue Knights to a 72-48 Division 2 South Sectional win last night against Sharon High. Hank O’Brien (15) had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
The pedal, as they say, was put heavily upon the metal.
When senior guard Will Bennett stole the ball at the visiting Eagles’ (#15 seed, 11-10) foul line and fired a court-long strike to Andrew Galanek in full stride, and Galanek slam-dunked the ball over his would-be defender, the crowd and bench erupted, Sharon called time out and victory seemed almost a fait accompli.
“I think it helped pump them (the team) up a little bit,” Sandwich head coach Dennis Green said. “Any time you get a dunk like that in front of the crowd, it gets them going. We did a very nice job defensively. A lot of pick-offs, a lot of steals, They’re very disciplined. They’re where I want them to be and I yell at ‘em and bark at ‘em and they respond. They are very disciplined on defense which I love.”
At 5:01 of the first quarter, ahead 9-2, the Blue Knights would build on that momentum and early lead in exponential fashion as the game progressed. For everything that Sharon seemed to do right, Sandwich would answer with two things done better.
“We changed it up a little bit in the second half,” Green said. “We went into a 1-3-1 and we kind of pressed them a little bit because we knew their guards might be a little suspect and we got out on the wings a little better with the 1-3-1.”
By the end of the first quarter, the Blue Knights held a nine-point lead, 22-13; by halftime, an 11-point lead, 35-24, and by the end of the third frame, an insurmountable 17-point advantage.
Senior co-captain Joey Downes led all scorers with 23 points, including four second-half trifectas, but fellow senior co-captain Hank O’Brien provided the type of presence on the inside that Green said the Blue Knights needed and hoped for. O’Brien finished the night with a double-double, 18 points and 10 rebounds, but also had three blocked shots and tacked on a pair of assists.
Sandwich High senior co-captain Hank O’Brien skies over Sharon High’s Mike Zola in last night’s 72-48 tourney win for the Blue Knights.
Sean Walsh/Capecod.com Sports
“Hank did a nice job rebounding for us and we knew we’d have the height advantage and we need him to do that,” Green said.
Lightning-quick Galanek also dumped in 18 points and proved to be a real tone-setter from the opening tip off through the end of the first half. The lanky junior forward poured in 10 of his 18 in the first half, but played equally tough defense as well.
Bennett and senior co-captain Scotty Reels both added six points to the effort, but Bennett, as directed, didn’t score unless he absolutely needed to. He took three shots on the night and made two of them, but more importantly, he tore down eight rebounds, had six assists and three steals.
Reels had a slightly off night in terms of offense, shooting 2-11 from the floor, but he had four steals and three assists to offset the need for him to reach double-digits.
Interestingly, Sandwich shot 27-61 from the floor for the night, a shooting percentage that might need to be ramped up a bit as the tournament progresses. Sharon’s David Roelke led the Eagles with 13 points on the night.
“Every game is different, so the next round’s going to be tougher,” Green said. “It gets tougher as you go along.”
The #2-seeded Blue Knights will face #7-seeded Walpole in the Division 2 South Sectional Quarterfinals on Friday (Feb. 27) at Sandwich High School at 6:30 pm. Walpole defeated Randolph, 64-45 to advance to the quarterfinals against the Blue Knights.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm
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