Norton Boys Basketball Combines Good Defense And Offense For Win

The boys’ basketball team earned its fourth consecutive victory with a 65-52 win over Westwood in a Tri-Valley League game on Tuesday night at the Lawrence Larocque Gymnasium.

With the victory, the Lancers improved to 12-5 overall and 10-5 in the league.

Winners of six of its last seven games, Norton currently sits in third place in the TVL. But the league race got much more interesting after Hopkinton went into Medway on Tuesday night and handed the Mustangs a 56-47 loss.

The win broke the 33-game TVL winning streak for Medway and pulled the Hillers into a first-place tie. It was a terrific turnaround for Hopkinton, who had dropped a tough 72-53 decision to Medway on January 7 in Hopkinton.

The Mustangs are now 13-3 overall and 13-1 in the league, while Hopkinton is now 13-2 overall and 13-1 in the TVL. Norton is third at 10-5, while Dover-Sherborn (9-7 overall) and Medfield (7-7) are deadlocked for fourth place with identical 7-7 marks.

While the Norton defense continues to be strong, the Lancer offense has really emerged during the second half of the season.

Right now Norton has a lethal combination of junior forward Colin Feeney playing well inside and the hot outside shooting of junior guard Steve Burrill.

After transferring from Bishop Feehan over the summer, Burrill has really settled into his role with the Lancers. He scored 18 points in the game on Tuesday night against Westwood, including three three-pointers.

Feeney records a double-double almost every night, scoring a game-high 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds on Tuesday night. He was consistent during the game against the Wolverines, scoring 10 points in each half.

It was the third consecutive game of 20 or more points for Feeney. He had 20 points against Millis on February 3 and 27 against Holliston last Friday night before registering another 20-point effort on Tuesday night against Westwood.

Burrill had an excellent first quarter, scoring 10 points to help Norton take a three-point advantage after one, 19-16. After contributing two points in the opening quarter, Feeney would score his other 18 over the final three. He had eight in the second period as the Lancers outscored the Wolverines 16-10 to take a nine-point lead at the break, 35-26.

After Westwood closed the gap to eight at 48-40 by outscoring the hosts 14-13 in the third, Norton put the contest away by outscoring the Wolverines 17-12 in the fourth.

The story on defense on Tuesday night was the work of senior captain and point guard Chris Ruta as well as senior guards Brendan Curtin and Malik Little.

“Chris, Malik and Brendan all played excellent defense against the Westwood guards, who are really the strength of their team and who had excellent games in their 25-point win over Medfield last Friday night,” said Norton head coach Marc Liberatore on Wednesday morning.

With the win over the Wolverines in their pockets, the Lancers will now turn their attention to a non-league game against Martha’s Vineyard (12-2 record) on Thursday. The boys’ game will be part of a doubleheader with the Vineyarders. They will battle Martha’s Vineyard at 3 p.m. with the two girls’ teams facing each other at 4:30 p.m.