H.S. Basketball: D-R's Successful Season Ends in Playoff Opener

DIGHTON - The Falcons were down, but not out.

Dighton-Rehoboth trailed by 10, 39-29, with 2 minutes left in Thursday night’s playoff game against North Quincy. They had cut the lead to five earlier in the quarter, but five quick points by the Raiders pushed the deficit back to double-digits in the final minutes.

That’s when the Falcons turned it up a notch.

John Marcille converted a three-point play on a layup and foul shot with 1:51 left, and senior captain Shane Mello followed by poking the ball away from a Raider to junior guard Pat Palazzi, who found Melllo streaking to the hoop for a layup. The Raiders called timeout with 1:02 left, and following a traveling call on North Quincy, Marcille hit two free throws to cut the deficit to three. The Falcons would get as close as two after a Palazzi free throw with 10 seconds left, but couldn’t pull off the big comeback as North Quincy escaped with a 41-37 victory in the First Round of the Div. 2 South playoffs.

“It’s very disappointing. The kids are heart-broken. We fought hard but give North Quincy credit, they defended us very well,” D-R coach Bill Cuthbertson said after the game. “If you told me this morning we’d hold them to 41 points, I would have felt pretty good about that. We only scored 37 points. You’re not going to win many games, if any, scoring only 37 points.”

The Falcons struggled to generate offense for most of the game as their shots just weren’t falling. D-R didn’t sink a single three-pointer all night in a game when shots from long range or short range rarely went through the hoop.

“This game comes back to the way we defended,” North Quincy coach Kevin Barrett said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way we consistently defended for 32 minutes.”

Dighton-Rehoboth has nothing to hang their heads over after an extremely successful season. The Falcons finished 14-7 overall, were champions of the South Coast Conference Blue Division and hosted a playoff game for the first time since 2011.

“Going into the year, I don’t think anyone viewed us as our (division) champion, going to the tournament, winning 14 games or being the SCC Sportsmanship Award winner,” Cuthbertson said. “The kids have a lot to be proud of. By every measure, the season was a wonderful success. The whole team has been wonderful. They come to practice every day and work hard. I don’t have one single complaint. I’m really proud of them. It was a lot of fun for me and I hope they had as much fun as I did.”

No. 11 North Quincy (14-7) advances to the Div. 2 South Quarterfinals on Sunday, where it will travel to face No. 3 Whitman-Hanson (21-2), which beat Somerset Berkley by 31 points (85-54) in First Round action Thursday night.

REPORTERTODAY.COM MVP: Marcille led the Falcons with 13 points, including 11 in the second half and seven in the fourth quarter when the Falcons made their run. The junior wing, who was named a SCC All-Star this season, was also a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. “No. 15’s their guy,” Barrett said about Marcille. “There was a stretch there where we really didn’t have an answer for him.”

CAPPING A CAREER: Thursday’s game was the final contest for D-R seniors Mello, Shayne O’Neil and Ishmael Christmas, and Cuthbertson couldn’t say enough good things about the group. “Shane Mello, he’s the heart and soul of our team. He’s a great leader. Basketball in high school means a lot to him and being that kind of role model was great for all our players. He had a great career here. We’re going to miss him,” Cuthbertson said. “Shayne O’Neil did a great job for us inside this year and he developed tremendously over a four-year period. Ishmael Christmas is one of the best athletes in the entire school, a three-sport athlete who shines in all three. They’ve been a great group to coach.”

LOOKING AHEAD: The Falcons will return three starters from this season in the 2020-21 campaign next year: Marcille, Palazzi and big man Ryan Ouellette. Replacing Mello and O’Neil won’t be easy, but guards Myles Mendoza (sophomore) and T.J. D'Ambrosio (junior) both got some big minutes this season, and forward John DiSanto (junior) will also return after seeing some key minutes on Thursday night. “We have a good nucleus coming back,” Cuthbertson said. “It’s a little early to think about next year, but clearly we have a good foundation and hopefully they learn from this and see what it takes to be successful at a high level.”

DON’T MESS WITH THE NEST: How pumped was the D-R community for the home playoff game? The gym was packed full before the players even came out of the locker room for the 15-minute warmup period before pre-game introductions and the National Anthem. An announcement had to be made asking fans to squeeze in so no one would have to block the exits with the gym nearing capacity. Fans were even seated in the aisles in the stands. And the D-R student section, known around town as The Nest, was as loud as ever with a green and yellow theme. “I think it speaks a lot about our kids and their connection with the rest of the school,” Cuthbertson said. “We’ve had great support all year. It says a lot about our culture. Our kids are great kids, likeable kids, and it was great to see the support tonight. I just wish we had some more games to play.”

QUICK HITS: Palazzi and Ouellette both finished with eight points in the season-finale. “(Ouellette)’s a handful in the post and Palazzi, on the perimeter, can get the ball from end to end as quick as any kid we played against this year,” Barrett said. … Mello (six points) joined Marcille in earning SCC All-Star honors this year while Ouellette and Palazzi were named Honorable Mentions. The Falcons were also named the conference’s Sportsmanship Award winners. … Junior guard Steve Dalla led the Raiders with 14 points, and sank both free throws with 8.1 seconds left to push North Quincy’s lead from two to four and put the game out of reach. “That was key to ice the game,” Barrett said. … D-R’s Alyson Rego killed it singing the National Anthem before the game. Bravo. … There was one fine piece of refereeing during the game that may have flown under the radar. Ouellette and North Quincy forward Agu Ugwu were getting chippy jockeying for position in the fourth quarter after spending the entire game battling down in the post. Instead of giving warnings or technical fouls to one or either player, the official stopped play for a moment, brought the two together near half court, spoke to them quietly and made them shake hands before resuming play. … In more than a decade covering high school sports in Southeastern Mass., this writer is having a hard time thinking of a better coach than Cuthbertson or a better all-around, on-and-off the court student athlete than Mello. The D-R community should be very proud of both of them. … The MIAA is proposing big changes to the current playoff landscape with proposals that include eliminating the North, South, Central and West sectionals and instead having a much larger state-wide tournament instead of the current format. D-R Athletic Director Doug Kelley is attending a meeting Friday with more details on the proposal, so stay tuned. … Thursday’s game was the last of the 2019-20 winter season. Spring sports tryouts start in a few weeks, with lacrosse, baseball, softball, tennis, volleyball and track competitions beginning at the end of March and the beginning of April.

NORTH QUINCY 41, DIGHTON-REHOBOTH 37
North Quincy           4  12  12   9-41
Dighton-Rehoboth   8   8  6    15-37
Scoring
North Quincy: Tyler Le 2, Steve Dalla 14, Colby St. Marie 10, Agu Ugwu 10, Colm Geary 4, Aaron Huang 1.
Dighton-Rehoboth: John Marcille 13, Shane Mello 6, Ryan Ouellette 8, Pat Palazzi 8, Shayne O’Neil 2.
3-Point Goals
North Quincy: Steve Dalla 2.
Dighton-Rehoboth: None.