The Sports Buzz for Feb. 7 - 13

It’s Monday and you know what that means. It’s time for the Sports Buzz, the fastest three minutes in Brookline sports coming your way right now:

Well, let's start with girls’ basketball, where senior star captain Amber Dillon registered her 1,000th career point in Brookline's 48-43 win over host rival Newton North. Dillon scored a team-high 21 points in the game, as the Warriors improved to 11-6 overall and 9-5 in the Bay State Conference. Brookline has already clinched a state tourney berth for the second consecutive season.

To boys’ hoops we go, where the first few minutes of last Friday's to Newton North served as a microcosm of its recent play. After scoring five points early, the Warriors turned the ball over five straight times.

Despite Brookline coach Mark Fiedor’s pleas for his team to take better care of the ball all week, the Warriors committed 24 turnovers and struggled to keep up with aggressive-but-disciplined Tigers, as Newton North won, 64-40. Brookline fell to 7-9 overall and 7-7 in the Bay State Conference. The Warriors need to win three of their last four tilts to qualify for the state tourney.

“Our goal was to keep the turnovers below 10, and we had 11 at the half,” Fiedor said. “We got our butts kicked tonight.”

Newton North jumped out to a 15-7 lead at the end of the first quarter by finding the open man in transition and being careful with the ball. Guard Stephen O’Neal (13 points) helped keep Brookline in the game in the second quarter by hitting a pair of three pointers but the Tigers were hitting from deep as well. Newton North’s Michael Thorpe and Korey Mui both knocked down threes and 6-foot-6-inch Aaron Falzon connected on two three pointers to give their team a 30-23 advantage at half time.

“There were times where we had three guys covering one guy on their team, which showed a need for more mental discipline,” Fiedor said. “Positioning on rebounds and picks may seem like small things, but they end up being important.”

The Tigers completely overmatched the Warriors in the second half as they allowed Brookline only 17 points in the last two quarters. A big issue for the Warriors in the second half was their inability to penetrate the Tiger defense or finish at the rim when they were able to get some space. This was not a problem for Newton North, however, as it outscored Brookline 11-0 at one point in the third quarter and extended its lead to 49-31 at the end of three quarters.

Fiedor has been trying to implement a motion offense, but was disappointed with his forwards’ lack of mobility.

“Our forwards need to move down from the top of the key in a motion offense and our guards need to keep their heads up when coming off high picks,” Fiedor said.

Falzon hit another three to open the fourth quarter, but his ability to draw the Brookline forwards out to the three-point line to clear space down low was just as damaging as the points he scored.

Fiedor, though, was encouraged by his team’s attitude after the loss.

“They said ‘We lost, but let’s get back to work’,” Fiedor said.

The defeat followed a good win by Brookline, which had bounced back from a one-point loss to Braintree with a 60-48 victory over host Framingham.

While turnovers were still an issue for the Warriors—they had 21—they overcame their mistakes with a pair of strong efforts from O'Neal and freshman Anthony Jennings, who was playing in his first varsity game.

O'Neal tossed in 15 points against the Flyers, following up a huge effort in the Braintree loss, in which he poured in 27. Jennings, meanwhile, propelled the Red and Blue with eight points and eight rebounds.

“We had a chance to expand the lead even further, but we were turning the ball over in the fourth quarter again,” Brookline head coach Mark Fiedor said. “Games against tough teams are like chess matches and require you to study your opponent.”

Meanwhile, against Braintree, the Warriors trailed, 14-0, early on, before taking the lead at the half. Brookline had a five-point advantage in the fourth quarter, before things unraveled for the Warriors, who had a chance to take command, but instead committed four turnovers and suffered a 54-53 defeat.

"It’s disheartening to lose like that, when turnovers are still a problem, and it took a lot of energy to come back,” Fiedor said. “It’s almost like you’re on a roller coaster because the talent’s there but not the consistency.”

Well, everything is cool in the pool. In boys swimming, the Warriors placed a strong fourth overall out of 10 teams at the Swimming and Diving MIAA Central/South Sectionals, amassing 92 points at the big event. King Phillip Regional won out with a score of 195, while Boston College High and Bishop Feehan followed with scores of 144 and 122, respectively.

Brookline senior Tim Gladyshev defended his title, winning the 100 breaststroke for the second consecutive year in a season-best time of 59.82. Gladyshev also shined in the 200 individual medley, finishing in second place, while also teaming with Thompson Zang, Seb Vasquez, and Zach Albert to place second in the 200 freestyle relay. Albert, meanwhile, placed a solid fifth in the 100 free, while the 200 medley relay team of Kyle Swardsrom, Gladyshev, Cody Tipton, and Vasquez also took fifth place.

We go to indoor track, where senior standout Will Jackson was the only winner for Brookline at the Bay State Conference Championships. Jackson won the 600 meter run by more than a second with a time of 1:26.37.

And to girls’ hockey, where Sydney Karnovsky scored two goals and Katherine Wolinski also tallied, though the Wariors fell to Mt. St. Joseph's/Matignon, 6-3.

Finally to the mats, where the Brookline wrestling team took fifth place out of 13 teams at the Division 1 Central team sectionals at Newton South. What made it even sweeter was that Brookline achieved the feat by defeating archrival Newton North for the second time in a week. The Warriors took the Tigers, 54-22, in a dual meet on the road, before winning by an even larger margin in a 63-12 decision over Newton at the sectionals to clinch the fifth-place spot.

Overall, the Warriors went 3-1 on the day, highlighted by a terrific outing by sophomore standout Ramesses Akamefula, who went 4-0, after being bumped up from the 189-pound weight circuit to 215, because it made for better overall matchups for the Warriors. Akamefula pinned one of his opponents, and also won a thrilling 7-6 match in overtime.

The teams competing at the sectionals included Newton South, Malden, Lexington, Newton North, Framingham, Brookline, Everett, Waltham, Lincoln-Sudbury, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Franklin, North Quincy and Algonquin.

Pat Ouellette and Brookline athletics contributed to this report.