Senior sharpshooter sparks Wareham to Div. 4 Sweet 16 win

WAREHAM — Leaving Diego Mello open is a dangerous thing to do.

Maimonides found that out on Tuesday night.

Mello connected on six 3-pointers to power top-seeded Wareham to a 79-51 victory over the No. 17 M-Cats in the MIAA Div. 4 Sweet 16.

“I just came out confident,” said Mello. “Once I hit that first shot, I felt good from there.”

Mello knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Wareham led by seven.

“Everyone knows who he is,” said Wareham head coach Steve Faniel. “Everyone knows what kind of shooter he is. The scouting report says, ‘Don’t leave 21.’ That makes everyone’s life easier. You can’t double off him to go to Antoine (Crosson) or you can’t help off him to go to Ajay (Lopes).

“When they do leave him, it’s his job to make them pay.”

The Vikings blew the game open in the second quarter thanks to a 15-6 run capped off by a pair of 3-pointers from Mello. He had 15 of his game-high 18 points in the first half as the Vikings led 43-25 at the intermission.

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“He was kind of the only one on today,” Faniel said. “When all of them are on at the same time, we’re really tough to beat. There’s rarely a day when at least one of them ain’t on. Tonight was Diego’s night. He shot the ball well from the outside and everybody else did enough to get him those open looks. It’s a team game.”

Mello said that he and the rest of the Vikings work a lot on their shooting.

“Most of our practices are shooting based,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest things we work on as a team. We make sure we get 50 to 100 3-pointers every day.”

Through 23 games, the Vikings have made 209 3-pointers as a team.

Mello has knocked down 43 of them.

“We are always going to have someone shooting good no matter what,” Mello said. “If someone is missing then the next guy up is hitting his shots. That’s what happens when you have a deep shooting team.”

WHAT IT MEANS

The defending Div. 4 state champion Vikings (20-3) punched their ticket to a third straight Elite 8 appearance. “It feels great, but the job is not finished,” Mello said. “We have three more to win. That’s all we’re focused on.” … The loss was the first of the year for Maimonides (16-1).

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OFF THE BENCH

Senior Jakwon Pittman scored 12 points while freshman Amare Rose had four points, nine rebounds and three steals. Senior Jayce Travers had all seven of his points in the fourth quarter. He also had four assists.

TEAM STATS

Wareham shot 41% (33 of 80) from the field and 80% (4 of 5) from the foul line while turning the ball over 11 times. Maimonides shot 47% (21 of 44) from the field and 45% (5 of 11) from the foul line with 30 turnovers.

NOTES

Wareham senior Ajay Lopes, who usually wears No. 4, wore No. 10 for the game. “We had a little uniform malfunction,” Faniel said. “Hopefully we get that rectified. Ajay is Ajay and he did what he had to do tonight.” Lopes had six points and six assists. ... Antoine Crosson had seven rebounds.

Wareham 79, Maimonides 51

Maimonides

Avi Schwartz 13 (3), Raanan Gewurz 17 (1), Nate Weinstock 18, Josh Canner 2, Aaron Banks 1.

Wareham

Aaron Cote 13 (2), Ajay Lopes 6, Antoine Crosson 11, Jaron Pittman 2, Diego Mello 18 (6), Amare Rose 4, Kyle Susko 4, Jakwon Pittman 12, Jayce Travers 7 (1), Jace Lapointe 2.

Maimonides;17;8;12;14 — 51

Wareham;24;19;19;17 — 79

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Diego Mello powers Wareham past Maimonides in MIAA Div. 4 Sweet 16