Bishop Feehan Too Much for Marauders Boys Basketball in MIAA Quarters

In the opening minutes of Saturday's quarterfinal game between Dedham and Bishop Feehan, the Shamrocks showed they were the quicker and bigger team.  They quickly ran up a 15-0 lead and never looked back.  The Marauders began competing at that point, but the damage was done, and they fell 67-43 in the quarterfinal round of the MIAA Division 3 playoffs.

“We had a tough time making shots, and I really have to credit their defense,” said Dedham coach Ed Hickey.  “We didn’t bring our best game today, and Bishop Feeham played extremely well.”

Feehan did an excellent job of shutting down the Marauders in those first minutes, and even when the visitors got a look at the net their shots just were not falling.  The first quarter was nearly over before Carmen Dello Iacono took Rohit Kumar’s inbound pass and got Dedham on the board.

Kumar would clock the Marauders’ only other field goal during the first, when Cam Clifford, who was driving towards the basket, kicked the ball back out from the paint.  Clifford and his brother Jeremy would each put in a pair of free throws for a total of 8 for the quarter.

The Shamrocks were assisted by a number of turnovers and some excellent shooting in their most productive quarter.  Brandon Cole’s 3-pointer two minutes into the game gave Feehan 9 points, and would mark the last time they had a single digit lead.

The second quarter showed a new effort by Dedham.  Early on Feehan’s Joseph DeStefano’s put up a 3-pointer, but Kumar responded with one of his own on the next possession. With four Dedham players shooting from the field, including a trey by Brendan Gassler, they added 16 points.    

At the other end of the court Feehan’s Andrew Botelho, who at 34 points was easily the game’s leading scorer, was limited to a mere three buckets during the quarter.  Two of them were from downtown, however.

A forced turnover to start the second half set Dedham’s Dan O’Connor up with a 3-pointer.  It would be the first of two from the field for O’Connor, normally a high scoring contributor for the Marauders.

Cam Clifford, who was the only Dedham player to reach double digits with 13, and Nick Tarintino had a two-on-one halfway through the quarter, but as they reached the paint Botelho knocked the ball clean out of Tarintino’s hands.  The next time Botelho touched the ball he would make a head fake to throw off his defender, take two steps in, and make a wide open jumper.

“When push comes to shove, give it to Botelho and clear out of the way,” head coach Matthew Freeman said.  “He was special today.”

Give it to Botelho they did.  The senior captain accounted for more than 50 percentage of the Shamrock’s points and had at least eight in each quarter.  During the third alone he scored 10 of Feehan’s 11 points.  His performance elicited chants of “MVP” from his classmates in the stands on more than one occasion.

“It was just amazing,” Botelho said after the game.  “To win here, in our last home game, by such a large margin is really something.”

Feehan’s advantage would grow to more than 20 heading into the fourth, and only when Kumar sank one from downtown would it drop below.  The fifth-seeded Shamrocks ended up with a 23-point victory over their 13th-seeded opponents, who had beat fourth-seeded Rockland earlier in the week.

“I’m very proud of our guys and what they have had to overcome.  I’ve never seen a team that had to overcome this many injuries to key players,” said Hickey.  “They battled through adversity and overcame a lot of obstacles, and there are not a lot of teams [like that] who can say they won two games in a tournament.  They have a lot to be proud of.”

The loss marks the end of the season for the Marauders, and the end of the high school careers for the seven seniors:  Cam Clifford, Kevin Boudrow, Dello Iacono, Gassler, Andy Hart, O’Connor, and Jake Reid.  Hickey credited their “heart and determination” for the success they achieved.

“They were just a great group of kids,” Hickey said.  “They did the right things on and off the court, and they will be missed.”

After the final buzzer sounded, Botelho found O’Connor in the back of the gym and congratulated him on a well played game.  The two seniors have known each other since they played together on a Mass Premier League team in the eighth grade.

“Now go beat Medway,” O’Connor told Botelho as they parted ways.  “I’ll be at that game, so good luck.”

Correction: Due to a reporting error Andy Hart was accidently omitted from a previous story that listed the names of the seniors. Kevin Boudrow was also accidently omitted from a previous story that listed the names of the seniors. We regret this error.

Download the movie