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Bryce Fernandes is the heart and soul of the red-hot Wareham Vikings – SouthCoastToday.com

Posted: February 15, 2020 at 9:43 pm

WAREHAM He may not score as smoothly as Destine Haywood-Gomes. He may not have state championship game pedigree like Joey Silvia. He may not dominate the paint like Dom Labelle or tower over every opponent like Josh Vargas. He doesn't have the small-space explosiveness of Darien Gibson or the deadly shooting of Kaemon Thomas.

But there may not be a more important Viking this season than Bryce Fernandes.

Every night, he bodies up the opposing teams best player. He grabs rebounds. He gets his hands in passing lanes. He scores on putbacks and in transition. Hes rarely out of position and hes never one to hang his head when things arent going well.

Simply put, hes the heart and soul of the Vikings, who enter the final week of the regular season riding a six-game winning streak and having already locked up a South Coast Conference Small Division championship.

Hes very important to us and what we do, Wareham coach Steve Faniel said after an 84-66 home win over GNB Voc-Tech. Bryce has been guarding the opposing teams best player since he was 10 years old. Every game hes ever played, he guarded the other teams best player. When you have a weapon like that who can neutralize a dominant scorer, that gives you a chance to win every night.

We rarely get blown out (the Vikings losses have been by 3, 7, 10 and 13 points). Even if we dont come out on top, its a close game. Thats because of the energy he brings, the leadership he brings, the communication he brings to us.

On Friday, Fernandes scored 12 points with six boards, good for the teams third-highest point total and second-highest rebounding total. But its never been the stats that differentiate Fernandes.

Theres not a lot of people like him, said fellow senior Joey Silvia, who scored a game-high 23 points. Bryce is a great basketball player. He does a lot for this team. Hes a great leader for us. It doesnt matter how much he scores, he plays defends, he gets boards, he does all the dirty work for us. Hes great to have on the team.

Beyond his status as the teams best one-on-one defender, Fernandes leadership may be his most necessary attribute on this years Wareham team, which features an embarrassment of scoring, shooting, athleticism and size up and down the roster.

I feel like I have a leadership role on this team, he said. I do all the nitty-gritty stuff. I let them get their points, but I try to work the hardest and do what I need to do to keep the team together and moving forward.

Theres only one column in the scorebook Fernandes worries about. The win column.

Thats why hes a captain and hes our only captain, Faniel said. Hes always been a weight room kid. He puts in the work in the offseason. He brings us together and does all the little things. Hes the glue guy who holds us together.

HOW IT HAPPENED

GNB Voc-Tech came out firing from deep, likely in an attempt to make up for a lack of size against Warehams imposing frontcourt. The Bears shot well enough in the first quarter to stay in the game, starting the game 4-for-10 from deep to finish the first quarter down 22-15.

Wareham, meanwhile, spent much of the first half taking advantage of the Bears lack of shot blockers. The Vikings were consistently able to get to the rim, making 10-of-11 two-point attempts in the first half. When they werent converting layups, they were drawing fouls, shooting 16 free throws in the first half (and hitting 11 of them).

They were playing good defense, Silvia said. Theyre athletic. We were just trying to take it to the rack and run on them.

The Bears hung around in the second quarter despite going 0-for-7 from 3-point land, and Wareham took a 44-32 lead into halftime. The Vikings quickly extended their lead in the third quarter. A Haywood-Gomes steal and dunk and a Silvia free throw with 5:51 left in the third pushed the advantage to 20, but the Bears had one last run in them.

Colin Wildrick got hot from deep, hitting four 3-pointers in a four-minute stretch, and suddenly Voc-Tech entered the games final eight minutes only down 10.

But a quick 6-0 spurt early in the fourth quarter, capped by a putback from Fernandes, extended the lead to 16 and the Vikings never looked back.

We wanted to keep attacking them and keep our energy up, Fernandes said. Our energy went down when they went on their run, so I tried to keep everyones energy up and we started to come together in the fourth quarter.

WHAT IT MEANS: Wareham improves to 16-4 and finishes 10-3 in the South Coast Conference. Voc-Tech falls to 6-13 and finishes 3-10 in the SCC. The Bears wrap up their season by hosting Middleboro on Tuesday. The Vikings compete in the Kuliga Classic, facing Marthas Vineyard at 4 p.m. on Monday at Apponequet.

GETTING HOT AT THE RIGHT TIME: On Jan. 17, Fairhaven beat the Vikings on Wareham's home court. It was the Vikings' third loss in a row and second-straight loss in the conference. They bounced back to win three in a row before another home loss, this time to Apponequet, which was sitting in the bottom half of the division standings. I think those losses helped us because we came together as a team, Silvia said. We knew we should have won those games, but we didnt play hard enough. It made us work harder in practice. Were playing a lot better now. Following the Apponequet loss, the Vikings managed a one-point win over Seekonk and a two-point win over Boston English, kicking off a six-game winning streak which has included a 37-point win over Case, a 19-point win over SCC Large champion Dighton-Rehoboth, an 11-point win over Fairhaven and Friday's 18-point win over Voc-Tech. It's fair to say the Vikings, who have won nine of their last 10 games, are playing their best ball of the season at the right time. This past week weve been able to get more shots and cut down on the open 3-pointers weve given up, Faniel said. I think our rotations have been a little bit better. The kids are buying in on defense and communicating with each other. They understand now that we have to share the ball and get stops. Our talent doesn't necessarily going to win all the time. If we keep playing as a team offensively and defensively its a fun way to play.

SENIOR SALUTE: Friday was the last regular-season home game for the Vikings, who honored their six seniors, five of whom Silvia, Haywood-Gomes, Fernandes, Labelle and Vargas combined for 66 points on a night the team equaled its second-highest point total of the season. We really wanted to get this one, Fernandes said. Its a big win at the end of the day. We had to win this one to keep our momentum going and defend our home court, which is something weve had trouble doing. This was a big win. Faniel added: These guys were in eighth grade when I started, so its kind of a special class to me. When I first started I saw these eighth graders and thought that when they were older wed be pretty good. I think that came to fruition. These guys have given a lot to the program. A lot of them have been with us for three or four years. Theyve been dreaming about this. Wareham has always had a great basketball tradition and I think these kids came to see Senior Night when they were in third or fourth grade and they picture what its going to be like. I hope it went well for them. I think it did. They all played pretty well and went out with a bang.

WAREHAM STATS: Haywood-Gomes finished with 17 points, four 3-pointers and five rebounds. Labelle added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. Jett Gorman chipped in six points and four boards and Kaemon Thomas nabbed three steals. The Vikings shot 52.7% from the floor (29-for-55), 31.8% from deep (7-for-22) and 62.9% from the line (17-for-27) while turning the ball over 20 times, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.

GNB VOC-TECH STATS: Wildrick scored a team-high 17 points. Brennen Rosa had 15 points and eight rebounds, while Poitras was quiet with five points but filled up the stat sheet with eight boards and a game-high five steals. Connor Dreher added five rebounds. The Bears shot 35.4% from the field (23-for-65), 26.3% from deep (10-for-38) and 77.7% from the line (14-for-18) while turning the ball over 18 times.

NOTES: Warehams highest point total in a game this season was 86, which it scored against Somerset Berkley on Jan. 21. It also scored 84 in a win over Case on Feb. 4. Both teams played a surprising amount of zone. GNB Voc-Techs first substitution of the game featured five players, and with their first 10 shots being 3-pointers, this reporter thought they might be trying out the Grinnell system. Soon the Bears went cold from deep, missing nine-straight 3-pointers between the first and second quarters.

Follow Brendan Kurie on Twitter @BrendanKurieSCT

Wareham

Joey Silvia 23 (2), Destine Haywood-Gomes 17 (4), Bryce Fernandes 12, Dom Labelle 9, Darien Gibson 7, Jett Gorman 6, Kaemon Thomas 5 (1), Josh Vargas 5

GNB Voc-Tech

Colin Wildrick 17 (5), Brennen Rosa 15, Alex Polanco 10 (2), Payton Leandre 7 (1), Ethan Almeida 6 (2), Shane Poitras Jr. 5, Connor Dreher 4, Mason Gomes 1, Elijah Rodriguez 1

GNB Voc-Tech;15;17;23;1166

Wareham;22;22;21;1984

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Bryce Fernandes is the heart and soul of the red-hot Wareham Vikings - SouthCoastToday.com


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