Hardworking Wildcats lose to Bishop Connolly 59-42

The team needs just two more wins to gain state tournament

Photos and story by Richard W Dionne Jr
Posted 1/24/19

The Westport band blared “Crazy Train” creating a party atmosphere for the big crowd, cheerleaders and Westport basketball team as they tied the game early in the second period and held a lead in …

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Hardworking Wildcats lose to Bishop Connolly 59-42

The team needs just two more wins to gain state tournament

Posted

The Westport band blared “Crazy Train” creating a party atmosphere for the big crowd, cheerleaders and Westport basketball team as they tied the game early in the second period and held a lead in the third before succumbing to 10-1 Bishop Connolly, 59-42, during a home game on Wednesday evening.

“Turnovers hurt us,” said Head Coach Scot Boudria. We shot about 15 to18 percent. If you don’t shoot the ball well against a very good team, you’re not going to win.”

Sophomore center Nick Payne scored 11 points to lead the Wildcats in the loss which dropped the team’s record to 7-3 in the Mayflower Comprehensive Division.

“Nick Payne is small, but he plays big,” said junior captain Connor Lecompte. “He gets a bunch of layups for us.”

Junior guard Connor Lecompte drove to the basket, sunk a layup and collected a foul for a big three-point play to get the Wildcats within three, 24-21, at halftime.

“Connor is the person who guides the ship,” said Coach Boudria. “He’s seen a lot of situations that the other kids have not. I rely on him for his experience and leadership both on and off the court. He’s a straight A student. He’s in the top two of his class. He’s a huge asset to my team.”

Payne tied the score and gave the Wildcats the lead with back to back jumpers for a 28-26 lead with 5:21 to go in the third period.

The Cougar’s struck back when Bishop Connolly’s tall center Cooper Creek made a put-back from under the basket. Creek was fouled on the play and made the foul shot for a 29-28 Cougars lead.

Guard Aidan Rock came into the game to spell Lecompte. The freshman grabbed a defensive rebound, rushed down court and made a layup from the right side to give the Wildcats a 30-29 edge with 4:32 left in the third period.

But an unguarded three-point bomb from Connolly guard John Rego gave the Cougars a 32-30 lead with 4:01 to go in the third period and they never looked back.

The Cougars went on a 15-point run to stretch the lead to 45-34 at the end of the third quarter.

Rego and Creek, an Australian native, who lives in Westport, combined for 30 points for the game.

“If you don’t do the little things like boxing out and take care of the ball, you’re not going to win,” said Coach Boudria. “We didn’t do those things very well tonight,” he said adding, “We worked hard, but I expected us to work hard. Working hard doesn’t always bring success.”

Coach Boudria knows he has a young team, but he doesn’t use the team’s youth as an excuse.

“There’s no age,” said Coach Boudria. “You can’t say that we’re young, you can’t say that we’re old, you can just say that we are the Westport varsity and that’s what I’ve been telling them,” he said.

“We need to work harder in practice,” said Coach Boudria. “We need to work better in practice. We need to work smarter in practice. We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’ll keep working hard and we’ll go from there.”

The team needs just two more wins to make the state tournament.

Scoring:

Nick Payne scored 11 points, Connor Lecompte scored 10 points, Aiden Rock scored 7, Aiden Viveiros score 4, Roberto Ferreira scored 3, John Sylvia scored 3, Domanick Vitorino scored 2 and Max Powers scored 2.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.