Ethan Houde #35 of Newport times his leap perfectly as FM’s Ranger Wilson heads to the hoop for a bucket tonight. Wilson poured in 13 first half points to help snap a FM three game skid. FM now stands at 8-6 and heads to Monadnock on Tuesday. – Chris Shaban
NEWPORT – A strong defensive effort in the final 16 minutes from Fall Mountain toppled the Tigers 65-50 and snapped a three game loosing streak for the Wildcats. Fall Mountain limited the shorthanded Tigers to only 16 points over the last two quarters while the Wildcats Owen Marandino went on a rampage pouring in 11 fourth quarter points. “Our defensive effort really picked up in intensity in the second half and that was the difference in the game tonight,” said FM head coach Justin Cassarino after the game.
Newport’s balanced attack in the opening quarter was led by Kyle Fish, Ethan Houde who netted 5 and 4 points each but they were outgunned by the Wildcats Ranger Wilson who was blistering hot with 9 points in the first eight minutes as Fall Mountain took a 15-13 lead into the second quarter. The second quarter was a track meet as both teams took to running the floor with fast paced, up and down action. Newport’s Cameron Gillespie led his team’s 21 point attack with eight points in the quarter. Fall Mountain ran off an 11-2 run as Michael Murdock connected on two three pointers and Marandino added 5 points during the run. Houde and Gillespie snuffed out the Fall Mountain run to tie the game 34-34 until Joey Murdock’s late hoop gave FM a 36-34 lead they would never relinquish.
Fall Mountain only allowed two buckets in the 3rd quarter and increased their lead to 47-41 after three quarters as no player had more than 3 points in the period. “I think we really started to play good defense at Stevens the other night but tonight everything really started to click in the 4th quarter,” said Wilson after the game. With Newport head coach Ethan Jean playing with a very short bench tonight, his troops tired as Fall Mountain began to increase their defensive pressure and held Newport to a single two point bucket over the final eight minutes.
As the Fall Mountain defense shifted into high gear, so did Marandino’s offense as he accounted for 11 of the team’s 18 points in the quarter as his quickness found open cuts to the hoop as he went to the foul line five times in the quarter alone. “Owen played very well tonight and overall our defensive intensity was much better, it was a good team effort for the win, ” said Cassarino after the game.
The Wildcat’s Marandino led all scorers with 24 points. He had lots of help tonight as Wilson added 15 points and Joey Murdoch chipped in with 10 points. Fall Mountain shot 13 for 16 from the foul line tonight. Houde led Newport with 19 points tonight while the Tigers only hit 6 of their 16 free throws.
Fall Mountain is now 8-7 and will head to Monadnock on Tuesday to face the 10-4 Huskies. Newport (3-9) will travel to Mascenic (11-2) on Saturday to finish a game suspended by water on the court last month. They will play the remaining three quarters of basketball.
In JV action FM defeated Newport 41-29.
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