Braintree's Scoring No Match for Mustangs

Friday night, the Norwood Mustangs visited the Braintree Wamps in a Bay State Conference game at , and came out on top, 56-45.

The game started slowly offensively, with both teams putting most of their effort into defense. The Mustangs led 8-1 at the halfway point of the first quarter, but thanks to a strong rebound and put-back by Pat White, and then a three pointer and free throws from Ashton Williams, the quarter ended tied at 8-8, following a 7-o run by the Wamps.

With the start of the second quarter came a more balanced attack on offense from both sides. The Wamps quickly scored the first six points of the quarter thanks to three pointers by Steve Lee and Ashton Williams. At half, the score was 24-22, Norwood leading by a bucket.

But that was the closest the Wamps would get.

The third quarter ended up being decisive, as Braintree gave up wide-open three pointers to Norwood captain Sean O'Neil and another to Juan Fernandez. The Wamps also committed numerous turnovers from bad passes and had several traveling violations. The Mustangs outscored the Wamps 24-10 during the quarter and earned a 16-point lead at quarters end, with the score at 48-32. 

During the fourth, Braintree seemed to have no shot of coming back, being down 16. The Mustangs held on through another Wamp run to score another victory in their 3-4 season.

"We are not going to win when we shoot 13-28 from the free throw line," Braintree coach Robert Crook said. "We played press hoping that we could force some turnovers and get easy transition baskets.

"We were in all the right positions all game but just could not make the plays and finish and Norwood did all game and it beat us."

The Mustangs had three players in double figures. Captain Sean O'Neil and Troy Semper each finished with 13.

Norwood next plays Dedham on Tuesday.