McCarthy Leads Wilmington Over Visiting Nauset

The boys basketball team struggled on defense and got just six points from standout junior guard Vinny Scifo during a Tuesday night contest against visiting Nauset Regional High School. And yet, it was just another number to add to the Wildcat win column.

Head coach Joseph Maiella’s charges went up by 19 points early in the third quarter and owned a 16-point edge in the final stanza. But the Wildcats had to fight off a furious Nauset comeback as they held on to a 74-65 win.

"We’re happy every time we win a game. Every time we play is a tough game,” said Maiella, whose team is already Cape Ann League co-champions and is finishing out non-league play before beginning its playoff run. “It’s a long year… You’re playing non-league games and you’ve got to ramp it back up for the tournament.”

Thanks to the victory, the team is 16-3 overall this year and has wrapped up a first round playoff game. With a season-ending win Wednesday night at Billerica, the locals would likely host two home games in the tournament if they advance past the opening game.

Tim McCarthy helped Wilmington compensate for Scifo’s off night against Nauset. The junior poured home 28 points to lead his team to the win.

“If Vin’s not hitting, even though he can still do all the other stuff and play good defense, I’ve got to hit my shots,” said McCarthy. “We’re really confident. We haven’t lost in a while and we had some really big wins down the stretch and we won the league, so we’re feeling pretty good.”

Senior captain Chris Frissore was second in scoring as he chipped in 12 points while Cole Peffer registered 11 markers of his own.

“They were face guarding (Scifo) all over the court, and Timmy had open looks. Timmy is a player,” said Maiella. “It’s tough to stop both of them. (Next game) it’ll be probably be vice versa and Vinny will be in the 20s.”

After the hosts padded their second half lead, Nauset bounced back and capitalized on an inconsistent Wilmington attack. The visitors climbed back within nine points at 70-61 with 3:36 to go, but missed five consecutive shots from close range.

Then, with 1:35 before the final buzzer, Nauset notched a layup to pull within 73-65. Time eventually ran out on Nauset and Wilmington iced another win.

“I think the strength of the team is we can run. You have guys like (Frissore) and (Nick Godzyk) who are third and fourth options when, if they were on other teams, they’d probably be averaging 15 points a game,” said Maiella, who didn’t let his team play as its lead slip away, rather than calling a time out. “It’s going to make them mentally tougher to fight through the adversity, step up and get some stops.”