Sharon Seniors Spoil Stoughton's Night

On a night that was aimed at honoring the Stoughton High School senior boys basketball players and cheerleaders, a pair of seniors stole the show.

Eric Tung had a game-high 20 points while classmate Eric Bennett chipped in with 16 and the Eagles upset the Black Knights, 68-64, in Stoughton Friday night.

“If we play like this, we’re in pretty good shape,” Sharon head coach Bruce Jackman said.

“But we have to play one at a time right now. These kids really responded well tonight.”

Sharon scored the game's first bucket and didn’t trail until the third quarter.

With the Eagles up 46-41, the Black Knights went on a 10-0 run to close out the quarter.

However, Jackman left it up to his three captains, Tung, Bennett and classmate Josh
Parness, to get the team mentally prepared for the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t have to do much because [of] the leadership we get from our three captains,” Jackman said.

“They talked in the huddle about who we had to calm down and get back to where we were. I just made some technical adjustments on what we were going to do on offense and defense. The attitude adjustment, they did on their own. They’re able to do that. They are very smart and intelligent kids.”

Stoughton came into the game undefeated in the Davenport Division, but the Eagles
did a great job defensively stopping the Black Knights’ two best offensive threats,
Aaron Calixte (15 points) and Kris Joyce (7 points).

“We talked about it at great length,” Jackman said of guarding the duo.

“We started a freshman, we put him on Kris and let Eric Tung take care of Calixte. Even though last game Calixte got 28 against us, Eric Tung did a real nice job on him.”

Freshman Brian Mukasa scored 6 points, but his primary role was shutting down
Joyce, who recently earned his 1,000th career point.

“Brian did a real, real nice job on Kris,” Jackman said.

“I don’t know what he got for points, but I know Brian did a great job. He’s got a lot of energy; his motor’s going all the time. I think he did a super job.”

Tung helped close out the game with some free throws, while Bennett provided a big
spark with a late three-pointer.

“Both [Bennett] and Tung are equally important for this team,” Jackman said.

“They both give us certain things that mean a lot for the squad. They both stepped up. They took care of the basketball. Josh Parness had probably his best game ever. It was really important for us to play that way.”

Rounding out the scoring for the Eagles were Parness (15 points) and Alex Simard
(11 points).

Sharon is off until Feb. 20, when the Eagles begin the two-day Davenport Classic.