Warriors Beat Rival North Attleboro

For the first 24 minutes and 23 seconds of the game, the Foxborough Warrior girls' basketball team couldn’t get a lead against the North Attleboro Red Rocketeers.

Taking the lead for the first time early in the fourth quarter, the Warriors didn't give up the lead for the remaining 6:37 to beat North Attleboro, 45-42.

Defense was king in this low scoring affair.

With both teams playing aggressive defense, points were rare. Down 11-4 after the first quarter, the Warriors needed to pick up the pace if they were to stay in the game.

A faster game speed and a tendency to force fouls got the Warriors back into the game. By the end of the night, Foxborough was 22 for 35 from the charity stripe.

“We called it an "old school Foxborough" win. It was dirty and a ton of defense. Not a lot of offense and grinding it out and doing what you had to do to get a W,” Foxborough head coach CJ Neely said.

Starting the half down 18-16, the Warriors let the lead stretch out to 27-19 but a 10-4 run cut the gap right back down. More aggressive rebounding from the Warriors got them a few second chance points and prevented the same on the other end of the court.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game. The rebounding was going to be tough so we had a huge emphasis on crashing the board,” Neely said.

With senior captain Nick Couroupacis out of the line up, Tim O’Halloran (10 points) came up big for the Warriors in the second half. Nailing a three late in the third quarter to cut the lead from six to three, O’Halloran soon after hit a pair of free throws to close the deficit to a single point.

Starting the fourth quarter down 31-29, Josh Patkin (10 points) gave the Warriors the lead with a three pointer and they never looked back. The lead was extended to as much as six after O’Halloran made a putback off his own missed shot with 2:30 left in the game.

“They (Tim and Josh) weren’t afraid tonight. Timmy started out slow… I think he came out ready to play in the second half. Josh top to bottom played a great game,” Neely said.

With less than 45 seconds left in the game, Mike Lamber nailed a three pointer to get the Red Rocketeers back to within one. A missed three by O'Halloran followed by a scramble for the ball all the way out to midcourt led to a jump ball with the possession arrow pointing the way of North Attleboro.

With two possessions to win or tie the game, the Rocketeers continued to struggle to find the basket. After missing two chances two take the lead, a big rebound from Patkin and two critical free throws put the Warriors up by 3 with 5.2 seconds left.

Quickly getting the ball after the inbounds pass, Ryan Perron had one chance to tie the game but couldn’t sink the jumper as the Warriors got a huge win over their rivals from North Attleboro.

Jake Soccorso also scored 10 points to create a three-way tie for the team's leading scorer. Alex Pacitti also had nine points.

The Warriors got some bad news this week concerning Couroupacis’ injury. The senior has been diagnosed with a torn ACL and will not return to play this season. The injury leaves a big hole in the Warriors’ offense that is going to have to be filled by the rest of the team.

“That’s heartbreaking for a kid who’s been a good player and a good leader,” Neely said. “You need other people to step up and the good news was we had three guys with 10 and another guy with nice.”

The Warriors will host the Stoughton Black Knights Jan. 31 at 6:30pm.