PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Lee boys basketball team defeated St. Joseph Friday evening, 48-30, at the Boys and Girls Club in Pittsfield.
The Wildcats ran the floor in the first half, gaining an early lead over the Crusaders. Lee was hitting its shots, where St. Joe on the other end wasn't.
"We needed to make some baskets," St. Joe coach Mike Dicicco said. "We missed a lot of layups and those would have kept us in this game."
Lee held a 27-15 lead going into halftime.
"We only had a 12-point lead at half, so that was concerning," Lee coach Tom Finnegan said. "We needed to get back to the fundamentals, which we talked about at halftime.
"We also talked about running a set offense, I would call plays out, but they weren't running them like we do in practice, so that's something we need to work on."
Although Lee wasn't running its set offense like Finnegan hoped they would, the Wildcats were still able to hit their shots and push the ball down low to hold onto their lead.
They got into foul trouble early in the fourth quarter, putting St. Joe in the bonus, but the Crusaders weren't finishing at the line.
"We missed a lot of foul shots," Dicicco said. "We played good defense, we just really couldn't convert on offense.
"We have to get their confidence up in practice and get some more shots up."
Lee's Sam Kelly led all scorers with 23 points. Brendan Faas had 12 for St. Joe.
St.Joe travels to Wahconah Saturday afternoon for a 2:30 p.m. start, and Lee in on the road Tuesday against Mt. Greylock. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
