Last modified: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 12:37 AM EST North boys have the answers against AHS BY PETER GOBIS SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - It's a predicament that most opponents of the North Attleboro High boys' basketball team face - either sag in a zone defense to prevent Charlie Morse and Justin Graham from profiting in the paint or take a chance that the perimeter players, John Farroba, Dave McLean, Dwayne Smith won't be stuffing the twine with jump shots. "With them, it's pick your poison - they're tough to defend inside or you try to force their guards to hit shots," said Attleboro High coach Mark Houle, whose Bombardiers didn't have many answers at either end of the floor in falling 59-42 Monday before a packed house. When the Bombardiers collapsed in a 2-3 zone defense, Smith buried a trio of three-point field goals during the first half. When the Bombardiers tried to force the issue a bit in a man-to-man defense, Graham (13 points, 13 rebounds, two blocked shots) and Morse (15 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots) produced. And at the other end of the floor, North Attleboro senior guards John Farroba, Jamie Kelley and David McLean made it painfully difficult for AHS sharpshooters Patrick Bou and Allen Leach to find an inch for a shot. In winning their fourth straight game, the Rocketeers (14-5, with a 12-4 Hockomock League slate) battled through six exchanges of lead with the Bombardiers (4-15, 2-6 in the OCL) before mesmerizing Attleboro through the second eight minutes of the first half to claim a 32-20 advantage by intermission. Attleboro made just one shot from the floor over the final nine minutes of the first half and hit on just six of 31 field goal attempts. North overcame an 11-8 deficit by scoring 10 straight points as a result of four Bombardier turnovers - and for all practical matters, the game was over. Farroba, who had four of North's eight assists on its 12 first half field goals, suffered a nasty chipped tooth in a scrum for a loose ball and the Bombardiers' T.J. McBride suffered a high ankle sprain in the second half. The Rocketeers exerted such defensive pressure during the second half too that Attleboro went 8-for-31 from the floor. "We went to man-to-man there (in the second half) to pick up the pace," said North coach Chris Perron of the rather methodical, grind-it-out pace. "We were playing slow." The Bombardiers never were able to cut their deficit to single digits during the second half, North making nine of 20 field goal attempts, while being unable to force many turnovers as well. North exercised such defensive prowess that Leach was limited to one field goal in the first half, Bou went scoreless in the second half and the Bombardiers had put just seven points on the scoreboard during the first eight minutes after intermission. "Our matchups were good," added Perron. "We won the rebounding wars and we got them (Derek Galvao, McBride) into foul trouble." The Rocketeers turned the momentum in their favor over a four-minute stretch midway through the first half, the result of a quartet of Bombardier miscues and AHS shooting 0-for-8 from the floor. Morse scored off the first turnover, a layup to make it a one-point game. Then Graham put North ahead for good with a pair of free throws with 8:38 left until the stop. Another AHS miscue resulted in Smith draining a trifecta off a Farroba feed for a 15-11 North lead. Another AHS turnover and Smith again sank a three-pointer off of a Farroba pass. Then over the final five minutes of the half, Kelley made two power drives to the bucket, a blocked shot by Zach Achin resulted in a another drive to the basket for two points by McLean and Morse claimed a three-point play (off of a Kelley pass). Smith (nine points) and Graham (eight points, nine rebounds) were just two of a half-dozen Rocketeers who contributed points in the first half, while the stewardship of McLean (eight points, three rebounds, two assists) and Kelley (six points, three assists, two rebounds in Farroba's absence) achieved the desired direction outside. "Their guards are strong and they keep you away," said Houle of the Bombardiers not finding many seams or alleys. "They did a good job of closing the lanes and then if you do get by them, then you have to contend with Graham and Morse blocking shots. "We got down too much, so we had to try (man-to-man defense) something else. Then they spread us out and ate us up." North prepares for the postseason facing another tournament-bound team, Bishop Feehan on the road Wednesday. Attleboro, meanwhile, closes the campaign with a contest at home against Brockton.