On Friday, the Fishermen boys basketball team beat Swampscott 57-45, continuing their strong 3-0 start to the season. After beating Swampscott at home, Gloucester is now 3-0 and looking to keep their strong start going. 

“We are happy to be 3-0 but can’t be content with where we are at,” Philpott said. “I’m expecting to be competitive in every game and ultimately compete for a conference championship and then find some success in the tournament.”

Gloucester started the game slow, only winning the first quarter 15-12. Swampscott was able to stay close in the first eight minutes due to some poor decision making and bad turnovers from the Fishermen, which has been a recurring problem for them.

Head Coach Adam Philpott mentioned the poor play. 

“We’ve made things a little more difficult than they need to be with some undisciplined play and turnovers, but that’s to be expected early on.” Philpott said. “We need to keep pushing to clean up our mistakes and then I think we can be a team that can really make some noise in the conference and division 3.”

Gloucester cleaned it up in the second quarter, playing great defense and getting the ball down to Nate Montagnino, who they relied on all game and ended with 25 points and 19 rebounds.

Gloucester again started slow to start the second half with two quick turnovers, allowing Swampscott to go on a 7-2 run. The Fishermen picked up their defense and went on their own run to finish the quarter 38-30.

In the fourth, Gloucester pulled away, getting a 20 point lead with only five minutes left in the game. Ashton Davis sparked the Fishermen’s late run with seven points in the fourth quarter; he finished with 15 total. At the end of the game, Dante Aiello, Ryan Madruga, and Anders Littman were able to score their first varsity points as well. The Fishermen comfortably won the game 57-45.

“I thought Nate and Ashton really stood out on the offensive side of the ball. Nate was a force around the rim and Ashton was steady knocking down shots from the perimeter.” Coach Philpott said after the win. “Overall, I was happy to get the win against Swampscott, but I think we could’ve been more disciplined, valuing possessions on the offensive end and communicating on defense.”

The Fishermen’s next game will be away on December 30th against Manchester Essex at 12pm.