By Kevin O'Malley
FITCHBURG -- The Fitchburg Red Raiders remained unbeaten Friday night, dismantling the Shrewsbury Colonials, 78-55 at the Academy Street Brickyard.
"They are too quick, too strong, too big and too good," said Shrewsbury coach Keith Hochstein following the loss, "I don't know what else to say."
Tito Morales led the way with 24 points, including 16 in the half as the hosts jumped out to a 50-25 lead. "This was a good win for us with Ricky Morales sick and Schneider injured." explained Fitchburg coach Doug Grutchfield. "Tito Morales played great. He has really played well of the last couple weeks."
Ricky Morales finished with just three points in his season low output. The junior guard did, however, contribute to the Red Raiders famous "Chinese" defense, recording five steals and three assists.
After falling behind 11-7 in the opening four minutes of action, the red Raiders responded with a 19 point run over the next four minutes.
Morales scored 10 points during the run while Dan Schneider added six of his 12 points. After Brian Schofield ended Shrewsbury's scoring drought with a jump shot, Fitchburg responded with a 6-0 run to open up a 19 point lead with six minutes remaining in the half. Fitchburg continued to pull away down the stretch as Jon Gauvin and Ray Gonzales started scoring. Both finished with a dozen points for Fitchburg.
Schofield led Shrewsbury with 14 points while the Colonials leading scorer, Matt Hochstein finished with just 11 points while connecting on three three-pointers.
"We played good defense on them but we need to get healthy," said Grutchfield. "We have a big week next week, playing at Marlboro on Tuesday, at Worcester North on Wednesday and Wachusett at home of Friday."
Fitchburg opened the second half with a 18-6 run as Schofield was the only Colonial to score over six minutes. Hochstein's only score of the second half, a three pointer from the seam cut Fitchburg's lead to 34, 68-34 with nine minutes to play.
As Fitchburg emptied its bench for the final minutes, Shrewsbury was able to chip away at the lead, outscoring Fitchburg 21-10 over the final 10 minutes. While Fitchburg heads down I-190 next Tuesday, Shrewsbury will be coming back up to face the Blue Devils of Leominster High.