By Ken Powers
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Holy Name 59 Fitchburg 48
WORCESTER -- Fitchburg High should have worried about the freshman
instead.
The Red Raiders were so concerned about
sophomore Neil Fingleton, Holy Name's 7-foot, 5-inch center who scored
half the Naps points in a three-point win against Fitchburg 10 days ago,
they sagged off freshman Jim Moore every time he got the ball, especially
when he was positioned outside the 3-point arc.
Big mistake. Very big mistake.
Moore drilled three 3-pointers, two in
the second half, finished with nine points, a handful of rebounds and an
armload of big plays to help lead the Naps past Fitchburg, 59-48, in a
Central Mass. Division 1 Tournament semifinal at WPI's Harrington Auditorium
before a crowd of more than 4,000.
With the win, third-seeded Holy Name
(17-5) advances to the final for the third time in five years. The Naps
will play fourth-seeded Milford (16-5), which upset St. John's in the other
semifinal, at 7:30 Friday night at WPI. Fitchburg, the No. 2 seed, finished
its season 18-4.
“Jimmy Moore was huge today, just huge,”
Holy Name coach J.P. Ricciardi beamed after the game. “Any time a freshman
steps up the way he did in a game as big as this one, it's major.”
Moore, who didn't play a second in the
Naps' 50-47 win on Feb. 19 at Fitchburg, minimized his contribution. “We
needed a lift and they left me open so I just tried to take my regular
shot,” Moore said of the three-ball that pulled the Naps within 19-16 with
1:26 left in the first half.
“I was nervous, really nervous, but when
that first shot went in my nervousness went down and my confidence went
up,” Moore said.
That shot and a 3-point play by Fingleton
(18 points, 12 rebounds, 8 blocks, all team highs) that followed 30 seconds
later allowed the Naps, who were down, 19-11, with two minutes left in
the half, to trail by just a bucket, 21-19, at the break.
“We were happy to be down by just two
at the half, thrilled really,” Ricciardi said. “We were nervous at the
beginning, and nobody really played well, and we didn't make good decisions
with the ball in the first half.”
Fitchburg opened the scoring in the second
half. Junior Gio Graciano, who scored all of his game-high 20 points in
the second half, knifed through the Nap defense to make it 23-19. Steve
Nelson (11 points, 9 in the second half) brought HN within one on the ensuing
possession when he canned a 3-pointer.
After a jumper by Jon Gauvin and two
free throws by Graciano made it 27-22, the Naps' Hector Reyes (6 points,
all in the second half) scored four straight points and Dave McNamara dropped
in a pull-up jumper to give Holy Name the lead for good.
“We felt we had a second chance in the
second half,” said McNamara, who finished with 8 points. “We knew we hadn't
played well in the first half, but we were still in the game and knew we
had a chance to turn it around.”
It was the fourth straight game in which
Holy Name held its opponents to less than 50 points.
“We're playing great team defense,” Ricciardi
said, “and everybody had a part in today's win. The guys off the bench
-- Corey (Phillips), Adam (Rautkis), Hector, Jimmy -- they're all part
of the reason we're playing on Friday night.”
© 1998 Worcester Telegram & Gazette