By Jim Clark
FITCHBURG - The records indicated that Saturday night's game between Fitchburg and Acton-Boxboro should have been a total mismatch, especially at the Academy Street Brickyard.
But the visiting colonials didn't look the least bit fazed in the first half, and kept it close until Ricky Morales took control after intermission. The junior sharpshooter finished with a game-high 30 points as Fitchburg eventually pulled away for a 72-59 win.
"They played well against us," said Fitchburg coach Doug Grutchfield, whose team improved to 8-0. " They had good size and they used it well."
Acton-boxboro which plays in the tough Dual County League, dropped to 1-11 with the loss. The Raiders were playing for the second straight night, coming off Friday's blizting of Leominster, and showed some signs of weariness. Shots weren't falling early in the game and the Colonials were holding them to one chance, thanks to the board work of Rob Surdel (10 rebounds) and Ryan Cassidy (8 boards). Each had 4 blocked shots, as well.
"They did a nice job on the boards when we weren't shooting well," Grutchfield said.
Despite junping out to a 7-2 lead, Fitchburg soon found out Acton- Boxboro wasn't going to roll over. An inside hoop by Surdel, a conventional three-point play by Jon Mazzone, and a Sean Walsh trey gave the guests a 10-7 advantage.
Fitchburg wouldn't regain the lead until a Morales jumper from the right corner made it 24-23 with 5:51 left in the half. A-B tied it at 29-all on Surdel's inside hoop off a fine pass from Mike Canty, but Kevin Keenan (17 points) and Ray Gaonzales sparked a run that gave the Raiders a 40-36 lead at the break.
Morales had just 10 of his points at the half as he and the rest of his teammmates were having a hard time finding the range. But Fitchburg's trademark press was keeping the Colonials from making it any tougher, forcing 33 total turnovers. Keenan and Tito Morales had 8 steals apiece.
"(Ricky) was struggling there for a while. It's been a tough week for us," Grutchfield said.
After intermission, Ricky Morales got untracked from the floor, hitting three straight to start the half as FHS pushed it to double digits for the first time. Action-Boxboro would get within eight points a couple more times, and it was still 55-45 after Canty trey with 10:03 left.
But Morales would bury a pair of free throws, nail a pullup jumper from the right side, and convert a steal into an easy layup to kick off an 8-0 run. Tito Morales added two free throws to give FHS its biggest lead, 63-45 with 7:52 to go, and A-B never got closer than 13 after that.