Pirates thump Nipmuc 78-61

Tyler Barrie (#23) takes a jump shot

by Steev Riccardo

OXFORD – The Oxford Pirates rebounded nicely from their loss last week to the Bartlett Indians with a dominant 78-61 win over a bigger Nipmuc Warriors team in non-league action at Oxford High School on Thursday night.

Senior co-captain Donny Freeland led the Pirates with 24 points. Fellow senior co-captain Mike James chipped in with 16 points, while junior Liam Pickett added 13 points.

“The key tonight, and what has been the key in our three wins, was that we got out of the gate early, building an 18-point lead by the end of the first quarter,” said Pirates coach Sean Halloran. “Nipmuc played us even the rest of the way. We need to learn to put teams away as soon as possible. It's still early in the season so we have time to grow in that area.”

“They made a nice 4th quarter rally to cut it to 12 but Freeland came up big when senior captains are supposed to. He had ten points in the quarter including two big threes.”

Freeland also had 11 rebounds from the guard spot to lead the Pirates. “Donny leads by example. He showed everyone that tonight by forcing himself to get to the defensive glass,” said Halloran.

The 3-2 Pirates will play at Douglas on Wednesday, January 2, with a key match-up with rival Leicester on Friday, January 4.

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