The visiting Vikings pillaged Wilton’s Warriors in Tuesday night’s doubleheader, as Mascenic’s boys’ and girls’ basketball teams routed their WLC counterparts.
Mascenic boys’ head coach Ryan Kelley said that his team hadn’t practiced for days thanks to the recent snowstorms.
“The goal for tonight was to get back into a rhythm, back into playing full speed, knocking off any rust that might have happened for the last week, and remembering who we’re trying to become,” Kelley said.
The one-win Warriors were just what the doctor ordered, as Mascenic’s tight press and post defense held WLC to just five first-half points as they rolled to a 52-20 victory. Meanwhile, Mascenic moved the ball around and found Tyler Lowe open time and again; he’d finish with a game-high 15 points.
“I thought he did a real nice job a couple times tonight recognizing ‘you're not guarding me, I'm taking that shot,’ and it paid off for him tonight,” Kelley said.
Joe Cocozella added 11 points for Mascenic.
WLC stepped up their game in the fourth quarter as the fan section got loud and urged the home team on to a more-respectable margin.
“[WLC] played hard the whole game,” Kelley said. “Even when they weren't getting the ball in the bucket, it's not that they weren't getting shots off. They didn't quit.”
Tyler Gill had seven points to lead the Warriors; Alex Nelson had five and Ben Jacob four.
WLC (1-9) is at Farmington Friday.
Mascenic (4-4) is starting to get a handle on its new Division IV schedule and will host a rematch with Woodsville Friday; the Engineers dismantled the Vikings in the north country two weeks ago.
“Tough team,” Kelley said. “We showed up and they smacked us. They smacked us pretty much right out of the gate. So for us, the goal is to know and understand, do a better job of learning about our opponents, to know what is required for that game. Not necessarily do the same thing every single day and every game. What is it that's going to be required in order to catch up and compete against these tough teams? Because doing the same thing we did tonight ain't going to fly on Friday.”
Mascenic girls roll to 46-17 triumph
The Mascenic girls handled Wilton with the same level of ease, despite what one might have expected from their respective records. Mascenic held the Warriors to just four points in the first half on their way to a 46-17 victory. Sienna Gregory led the Vikings with 16 points; Ella Pearson added 15 and Skye Lambert had nine.
Ryleigh Smith was WLC’s top girl with six points.
Mascenic (2-8) is at Newmarket Thursday.
WLC (5-6) is at Farmington Friday.