Tuesday night, the did something many teams haven’t done against Stoughton this year: stay even through the first 12 minutes.
But, with the score tied at 15 in the second quarter in Stoughton, the Black Knights went on a 14-4 run to end the half, eventually running away with the game, winning 55-34.
Stoughton (8-1) head coach John Gallivan and the Black Knights focused most of their attention on Sharon sophomore Brian Mukasa, who entered the game second in the Hockomock League in scoring.
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Stoughton guard Marcus Middleton helped limit Mukasa to six points.
“Defensively our plan was to stop Mukasa because he’s such a good player,” Gallivan said. “To hold a player like that to six points, we were very pleased with that output.”
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Despite hanging with the Black Knights for almost half of the game, the Eagles were done in by their cold shooting for the remainder of the game.
“Obviously we didn’t shoot the ball [well],” Sharon head coach Bruce Jackman said. “You can’t shoot the ball [like that]. We missed a bunch of layups.”
Middleton, who missed practice Monday due to a cold according to Gallivan, was all over Mukasa up and down the court.
“My mindset was to just play the best defense I can,” Middleton said. “I came into the game knowing he was the second highest scorer in the league. I took it as a competition. I wanted to prove to myself that I [could] play defense on a good [scorer]. He’s a good player.”
Stoughton junior Aaron Calixte had a game-high 18 points as well as 6 assists.
Sharon senior tri-captain and forward Sam D’Arcy had a team-high 10 points, and 8 blocks.
“He’s been great all year for us. He’s averaging 12 points a game for us,” Jackman said. “He’s been immense, he’s playing very well for us.”
Both teams play at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Sharon (3-5) hosts North Attleboro, while Stoughton travels to Canton.
