OA Boys' Basketball Out-Battles North Attleboro

When Oliver Ames senior forward Dwayne Johnson dove to the hardwood in the second quarter, drawing the crowd to its feet and earning a Tiger possession, it was clear that Tuesday night's game against North Attleboro was going to be a slug fest.

"A lot of it was just because of hustle," OA head coach Don Byron said. "[Johnson] hit the floor a couple of times and he really got us going."

On the back of hustle from Johnson and solid defensive play from junior guard St. Claire Ryan, the Tigers out-battled the Red Rocketeers and improved to 7-4 with a 66-48 win on the road.

For North Attleboro, which now sits at 1-10, finding a way to score on a stiff defensive front was a problem.

"We didn’t play very good guard defense and we couldn’t score in the post nor with our guards," North Attleboro head coach Chris Perron said. "Look at the scoreboard. When you lose by 20 and you give up a lot of points like that, it just comes down to offense not doing a very good job and our defense not taking away what they should."

The Tigers held North Attleboro to just 18 points through the first half. While OA only scored 25 points, they were able to recover quickly and sink baskets as the game progressed.

"I thought our defense kept us in this thing until we get the ball to fall a little bit," Byron said. "It took us until the second half to really get there. We fought ourselves a little bit on offense in the first half."

Senior captain Nick Bruha, who is now only six points away from his 1000th career point, led the Tigers with 15 points, including 10 in the final quarter.

Ryan added 13 on the game and senior center Jeff Babbitt added 11.

Senior forward John Moroney played staunch defense for the Tigers, while contributing 10 points on the offensive side of the floor.

"He’s a very smart basketball player," Byron said about Moroney. "He does the right things and makes the right decisions. He makes the right pass and he’s in the right place at the right times. That takes you a long way."

The Tigers will take on 9-2 King Philip Friday night at home. Nick Bruha will look to score at least six to surpass the 1,000 point barrier.

"I hope [he does]," Byron said. "Lets stay healthy and we’ll see."