January 13, 2011 · 2:39 pm
#4 Cam Roy of the Newburyport Clippers
This picture appeared in the January 12-18 issue of The Town Common with the caption, “Newburyport’s Cam Roy (#4) scored three goals and led the undefeated (6-0) Clippers past Masconomet, 5-3, on Wednesday night at Graf Rink.”
This picture was taken from the top row on the spectator side of the Graf Rink on January 5th. I came in knowing that Cam Roy was Newburyport’s top scorer. He didn’t disappoint by getting a hat trick while I watched.
The cold conditions shortened my camera’s battery life.
I used my Canon EOS Rebel T1i for this photo. My settings were: TV mode, ISO 6400, 1/125 shutter speed, and 9 F-Stop.
January 10, 2011 · 11:27 pm
Kyle Lowry #7 (17 points/8 assists) and #0 Aaron Brooks (24 points) keyed Houston’s upset win over Boston.
Ray Allen scores two in heavy inside traffic.
(Boston) The Houston Rockets (17-21) were missing players but not shots against the defensively challenged Boston Celtics (28-9) last night.
The visitors prevailed 108-102 minus their top scorer (Kevin Martin) as well as main inside presence (Brad Miller). They were also carrying a five-game losing streak.
Anyone familiar with Houston’s annual visit to Boston during the previous two seasons would have been leery of this game for two reasons; (1) Houston had won the two previous years and (2) the Rockets were again missing key players. Two years ago it was Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest. Last year it was Kevin Martin and Shane Battier.
The missing players were a non-sensible coincidence. Houston won because Aaron Brooks (24 points including 11 in the final quarter) was available after missing several games. Aaron set the shooting tone that the C’s couldn’t stop or match.
Luis Scola and Jordan Hill defend Big Baby and Shaq.
The C’s shot 50.7%, which will win on most nights, but in this game the Rockets shot 52.7% including a dazzling 66% in the last quarter. Houston made ten of their first twelve shots in that final quarter and tipped in the two they missed.
The Rockets frequently had two 6-footers (Aaron Brooks & Kyle Lowry) on the floor together and together they were tough matchups for Boston defensively. On the other end, the C’s exploited the height advantages but not enough to match Houston’s persistent offense.
The Celtics lead the NBA in assists and Houston is second. So there were plenty of good shots available on both sides.
Celtic coach Doc Rivers put the blame for the loss on the poor defense of his starters. Unfortunately, one of those starters wasn’t Kevin Garnett. He was supposed to play and was definitely missed on defense.
The worst boxscore stat, in my opinion, were the incredible 23 second-chance points Houston turned up. Somewhere there’s a stathead who could identify the defenders who gave up the offensive rebounds.
After each of the Celtic losses, Doc refers back to Game Seven of the NBA finals with the Lakers when the C’s regular season record put them on the road. Having the best NBA record becomes important in the finals. Doc wants it to become important now. Last night’s loss ties Boston with Miami in the loss column. The Heat have two more wins. Meanwhile in the West, San Antonio has only six losses. Lakers? They have eleven losses.
Here are a few of the solo shots I took at the game; Chase Budinger, Luis Scola, Luke Harangody, Marquis Daniels, Semih Erdin, and a Von Wafer dunk.
January 7, 2011 · 11:58 pm
Tim McCarthy (#20) is defended by Chris Jayne (#5). Tim finished as the game’s top scorer with 21 points.
(Newburyport) Consistent Wilmington (6-1) outlasted scrappy Newburyport (4-4), 66-58, in Cape Ann League action at Newburyport on Friday night.
The Wildcats took the lead (18-16) for good late in the first quarter on a Nick Godzyk (13 points) layup.
This was a game of layups and 3’s with very little in between.
The Clippers ran into dry spells in the middle quarters and couldn’t muster the firepower to recover in the final quarter.
Newburyport did put together a 9-1 run late to get to within four (60-56) with forty-six seconds left. Layups by Eric Meyer, Chris Jayne, and Brett Fontaine plus a Chris Jayne trey provided the points. However, Vinny Scifo (7 points) and Tim McCarthy (21 points) answered with six straight free throws to clinch the win for the Wildcats.
Tim McCarthy was impressive. The Wilmington junior guard did not force his offense and set up several teammates for layups. He nailed four 3’s and was 5-for-5 from the foul line. He was an important part of the consistent offense Newburyport faced.
I mentioned two runs doing Newburyport in. The first one was 10-3 in the second period. Nick Godzyk and James Wilkinson put up the points for the Wildcats. Nick had a three off the backboard in the mix. I guess that’s when you know, as an opponent, that you may be in trouble.
Newburyport trailed 30-21 after that run.
The killer run started late in the 3rd quarter and went almost six minutes into the final period. Newburyport was held to four points (Eric Meyer free throw & Matt Leavitt three) while the Wildcats collected thirteen points.
I mentioned Wilmington’s consistency. During the 13-4 run, five different players contributed points. The Clippers had only twelve turnovers during the game but five of them were during this 13-4 run including three in a row early in the 4th period.
Matt Leavitt (#3) shown here with Tim McCarthy hit four 3’s and led Clipper scorers with sixteen points.
The Clippers ended up with four players reaching double figures (Matt Leavitt-16, Eric Meyer-12, Chris Jayne-10, and Brett Fontaine-10).
Newburyport faced a solid man-to-man defense the whole game yet with their outside weave and slashes to the basket opened up some good shots. Wilmington turned up enough open shots to generate the runs that won the game for them.
Eric Meyer (#44) tallied twelve points and drew plenty of defensive interest in the post.
With 6-5 Eric Meyer inside, the Clippers have the potential of a very effective inside-out game. The Wildcats were very keen on keeping the ball out of the post and once it got there they sent help.
(I keep track of my own stats. I offer my own opinions. I take my own pictures. I apologize in advance for any statistical errors and misguided conclusions.)
January 6, 2011 · 7:54 pm
Alyssa Nogueira & Beth Castantini
This picture appeared in the January 5-11 (2011) issue of The Town Common with the caption: “Alyssa Nogueira (Pentucket) and Beth Castantini (Clippers) watch an attempted free throw during Pentucket’s 41-28 victory at Newburyport on December 20th.”
This picture was taken from under the basket, in the stands there, at Newburyport.
I used my Canon EOS Rebel T1i for the indoor shot. I was in Sports Mode which set the shutter speed 1/50/ F-stop 5.0/ AWB/ ISO 1600.
January 6, 2011 · 12:06 pm
Nathan Hickman(10) sets up Cam Roy(4) for one of his three goals.
(Newburyport) I took in the Newburyport/Masco hockey game last night (Wednesday) at Graf Rink in Newburyport.
Anytime you put an undefeated team (Newburyport) against a competitive rival (only one loss) I’m interested.
The Clippers prevailed, 5-3, behind Cam Roy’s hat trick. The talented junior teamed well with classmate Nathan Hickman on several of the goals.
The score was tied 2-2 after two periods before Cam netted two straight. A major penalty on Masco’s Trevor Surette (hitting from behind) in the 3rd lessened Masco’s manpower and their chance to mount much of a late-game comeback.
Clipper goalie Anthony Federico (26 saves) faces a point blank attempt by Masco’s Philip Russo in the first period.
Newburyport goalie Anthony Federico had 26 saves and probably none was bigger than a first period in-alone attempt by Philip Russo.
David Cusack filled in for injured Clipper captain Billy Boudreau. In the third period, David took the hit from behind and went head first into the boards after a hit by Masco’s Trevor Surette. The fill-in senior wobbled off the ice after the hit with help from his teammates. Trevor was assessed a major penalty and later exited from the penalty box to the locker room.
The come-away moment from this game was the singing of the national anthem by a youngster who could hardly be seen behind the penalty box door. She nailed that song from beginning to end.
Young lady nails National Anthem.
The garbled sound system otherwise offered little discernable help to what was going on. When players were picking up hats I gathered that Cam Roy had gotten a hat trick.
Paul Yameen wondered about the lack of a call.
Masco’s second goal came on the power play. Actually Newburyport went down two players. The second penalty was a bench minor on door-slamming Coach Yameen. Already one man short, and missing their best defenseman (Billy Boudreau) that action could have been disastrous for Newburyport. However, Masco tallied just once during the extended power play.
Gaven LaValley(7) gets good look at Clipper goal.
Unlike last year, this year’s Clippers appear less inclined to deck the opposition and more inclined to deke the opposition. From what I saw last night, they have the skating/passing skills to make that work for them.
December 30, 2010 · 10:34 pm
Jalen dribbles through the legs of Carlos Gomez.
(Monroe CT) Sometimes a tourney MVP award takes some figuring. Not so in the 2010 Masuk Holiday Tournament.
Jalen Graham was clearly the best player on the floor as Masuk (5-0) defeated Norwalk (1-4), 47-38, in the championship game of the Masuk Holiday Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Masuk High School.
The 5-11 senior tallied twenty-one points but those numbers only begin to tell the story of his value to the still undefeated Panthers in this game.
I saw steals, blocked shots, and his being the primary ball-handler versus full court pressure as added plusses.
Anthony DeLorenzo (5 points) puts up a second half free throw for Masuk.
Both teams had played, and won, yesterday so you knew going in that things would get ragged…….and they did. The shooting seemed most effected. The teams combined for a pathetic 6-for-34 from long range. That 17% for those of you without calculators!
The poor shooting kept any sort of sustained offense to a minimum. In fact in this game there was only one major run and that was a 12-point run by Masuk in the first four minutes of the 3rd quarter. Jalen (the MVP) was all over that game-changing run.
Let’s unwrap that run. Jabari Dear opened the 3rd quarter with a layup for Norwalk to make the score Masuk 21, Norwalk 18. Then came Jalen: assist on a Glenn Taylor layup, layup on his own, assist on another Glenn Taylor layup, layup on his own after making a steal, layup by Nick Davies, a layup on his own. There’re your twelve unanswered points as Norwalk had four turnovers and five missed shots while this happened.
Jalen faces double teaming by Ra’Von Shular and Rasheen Thompson (#3)
This super stretch gave the Panthers a 33-18 lead midway through the third quarter. The Bears couldn’t generate enough sustained offense to get all the way back. They did close to 43-38 with 1 ½ minutes left but didn’t score again after that.
Norwalk started slow (down 8-3) but went on a 9-1 stretch to gain a 14-11 lead early in the second period. Then the MVP sparked a 6-point run with a layup and an assist on Matthew Gerak’s layup. This gave Masuk the lead (17-16) and they never trailed again.
Another MVP moment came after Masuk suffered a major scoring drought late in the 3rd quarter into the 4th. How bad was the drought? 6 ½ minutes long. Nine missed shots and five turnovers.
Norwalk managed to put together seven points during the same segment to narrow things to 38-30 with 5:15 left. Who would step up to stop the run? You guessed it. This time it was a drive that had Jalen slice through, by my count, three Bear defenders.
The Masuk defense kept Norwalk on the perimeter most of the time. A jump shooting team with tired legs is never good.
Delshaun Wilson (14) hit a couple of long shots and led the Bear scorers.
Glenn Taylor added 10 points for Masuk getting himself on the scoring end of some of Jalen’s passes.
Referee cools off two players.
One of the two referees had nearly everyone’s attention by the time the game was over. I highly approved of his performance. I should have guessed his style by the military crew cut.
Anyhow, he first took on a group of Masuk students who had obviously offered him some “suggestions.” He confronted the students and told them emphatically to stop. They did.
Later a couple of players were getting more physical then they should and instead of whistling fouls he brought them together. They were to shake hands or face the alternative. They shook hands.
The best was last when from across the court he told complaining Norwalk coach Bobby Trimboli to sit down. (Where did he get the authority to do that?) When the Norwalk coach asked for an explanation the referee stayed
Coach Bobby Trimboli seeks an explanation.
across the court and again told the coach to sit down. Coach Trimboli did sit down probably thinking that the referee would come over and give some sort of explanation if he did. He didn’t. I was trying to imagine Bobby Knight in the same situation!
I came away very impressed with Jalen Graham. His ability to handle the ball, defend, and get to the basket were eye-catching. He looked, to me, to be a player who could hold his own at the next level.
(I keep my own stats. I take my own pictures. The comments are my own opinions. Any errors are unintentional.)
McClelland Miscellanea 
