Boys fall out of tourney; season still a success
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT WRITER
The trip through the postseason ended abruptly for the boys' basketball team last Wednesday afternoon, as the visiting Westport Wildcats outperformed the Whalers, 64-37.

For Nantucket, which hosted the first two games of the tournament, the loss meant there would be no road games again this year.

On a positive note, however, Nantucket soared to a school-best record of 16 wins, earned its highest seeding by being ranked third in Division 4 South, and bettered last year's tournament mark by making it to the quarterfinal round.

The early going indicated how this game would turn. Westport, an 11thseed that came to the island after beating 6th seeded Holbrook, surged to a 17-3 lead, thanks to three, 3 point shots and five different players making baskets.

Nantucket, on the other hand, not only had no three pointers in the early going, it had none for the game, the go-to tool it used all year in forging its Lighthouse Conference leading record. As coach Beau Almodobar noted later: "We lived and died by the 3-pointer and it caught up with us."

Time and again, the Whalers put up shots from outside the line, only to have them hit the proverbial lid on the basket.

"That was the strategy, to contest the 3," said Westport coach Scot Boudria afterward. "Against good teams like Nantucket, you try to throw the kitchen sink at them."

While the shots weren't dropping for Nantucket, Westport was on its way to a 15-point halftime lead and the eventual, 27-point differential. Jordan Ferreira, the season's leading scorer in the Lighthouse Conference, could muster just three points for the game, while Evan Hourihan, who responded all year when pressure was applied to Ferreira, was held scoreless.

Still, said Westport coach Boudria, the visitor's never relaxed, even with the big lead. "They're a team that can come back at you," he said. "Jordan Ferrerira's a kid who can hit five 3s in 10 minutes."

High scorer for the Whalers was Josh Butler with 13 points. Senior Kevin Stanton, who overcame an early season injury to be a leader in the pivot down the stretch, ended his high school basketball career with 10 points. Eric Lowell, who had 5 points, contributed with a fine, hustling effort.

"It's unfair to look at the score and say this is Nantucket," Boudria said. "Nantucket's a far better team than that. They're a classy team. I have a lot of respect for the program."

As does coach Almodobar. "These guys really came together under a lot of adversity," he said, referring to the loss of several players during the year. Indeed, Nantucket suited up just 8 players last Wednesday, while Westport brought a full contingent of 14, including their own cheerleaders. "I'm very, very proud of them," Almodobar continued. "They found a way to have the best record in school history."

In retrospect, not a bad season at

all - one for the books, in fact. I