Category: Boys Basketball
Baur’s Big Night Boosts Sharon Past Burlington
SHARON, Mass. — A year ago, Sharon’s Matt Baur was the leading scorer for the Davenport division champion Eagles.
One season later, Baur’s role has changed. The emergence of juniors Jacob McLoughlin and Nate Katznelson paired with the addition of senior Dante James saw Baur finish fourth on the team in scoring during the regular season.
But make no mistake about it, just because the Eagles haven’t needed Baur to score as much certainly doesn’t mean he isn’t capable.
The senior captain poured in a career-high 28 points, including 20 in the first half, to lead the third-seeded Eagles to a big 75-59 win over #19 Burlington in an MIAA Division 2 Round of 16 matchup.
“It really speaks to the human being that Matt Baur is,” said Sharon head coach Andrew Ferguson. “After missing those first couple of games, he realized he doesn’t have to come in and score 20 points a game like we needed him to last year. He committed to being one of the best defensive players in the league and we think he did it. He took [Cedric Rodriguez] and really took him out of the game, held him to 13 points and he’s averaging over 20. That was Matt’s task tonight and then he adds the offense on top of it. Our team has a lot of talent on it and he’s been a consummate leader for us.”
A HockomockSports First Team selection last year, Baur has always led by example with his defense and willingness to sacrifice his body. Despite only scoring over 20 points twice this season, he earned all-league honors because of all of his intangibles. On Tuesday night, his offensive prowess was on display.
Baur wasted little time heating up from the floor as he hit 5-of-8 attempts from the floor in the opening quarter, scoring 11 points to help the Eagles establish an early double-digit lead at 18-8.
It didn’t stop there as he took a feed from Ryan Brown to open the scoring in the second quarter, and then a pass from Sam Letendre for another bucket. After making his third field goal of the second quarter — and eighth of the game already — he drew an offensive foul on the other end to get Sharon the ball back.
“We have a lot of offensive threats on this team, and I knew that coming into the season,” Baur said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win. If that means taking a back seat with scoring, I’ll do it. I’m still confident and tonight I was hot so I kept rolling with it.”
Baur came up with a steal and found James (seven points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals) with a sweet behind the back pass for a traditional three-point play as Sharon’s lead ballooned up to 13 (29-16) midway through the second quarter. Baur added a triple, set up Katznelson (15 points, four rebounds) for one of his two threes in the game, and a late three from TTyler Goodman gave Sharon a 38-26 lead at halftime.
After a strong first half, the Eagles faced a stiffer test in the second as the Red Devils came out of the break with renewed energy. A press seemed to give Burlington some life while taking away Sharon’s rhythm. A 9-2 surge over the first four minutes saw the lead cut down the five, and the Red Devils even had a three-point attempt in the air that would have cut it down to two, but it was off the mark.
Sharon came down the other end and drained a key three by — guess who — Baur, taking a handoff from McLoughlin (15 points, five assists, four rebounds, three steals) and draining a tough three.
During that run, Ferguson elected to let his team play instead of calling a timeout to try and stunt Burlington’s momentum.
“We’ve had the experience of being in similar situations, we had it against Mansfield,” Ferguson said, “I don’t call a ton of timeouts, even if my assistants are wanting me to, I want my guys to figure it out. We have three seniors and four juniors really out there and we have to trust those guys, and they reward that trust more often than not.”
After another Burlington, Brown dropped in a perfectly weighted pass over the top to Katznelson for two, and nearly as quick as it was gone, Sharon’s double-digit lead was restored.
Nothing comes easy in the postseason and the Red Devils proved that as they responded with five straight, and once again the deficit was down to five. McLoughlin got into the lane for a floater, and senior Jack Bates found Baur for two more, handing Sharon a 49-42 lead.
Sharon slammed the door shut in the fourth quarter as its seven-point advantage quickly doubled just 60 seconds into the final frame. Bates hit a tough layup, James linked up with Katznelson for three, and McLoughlin got by his defender for two at the rim.
And just 30 seconds later, Bates found James for two and Sharon had its largest lead of the game to that point, 58-44, with 6:32 to play.
Burlington inched closer to get it back to 11, but Baur answered with his fourth triple of the contest.
“We’ve been in tough situations like this all season,” Baur said. “Teams are going to going to make runs, we know that. One of our focuses coming into the season was mental toughness and facing adversity and we were able to execute that tonight. It’s a game of runs so we shouldn’t be afraid of that.
“All of the hard work we’ve been putting in the last two years, it’s really hard to put it into words and describe this to see it all paying off.”
Sharon boys basketball advances to the Elite 8 to take on #6 Nashoba, who edged North Quincy 56-53 on Tuesday night. The Eagles and the Wolves are scheduled to tip off at 6:00 on Friday in Sharon.
Boys Basketball Photos: Taunton vs. Attleboro
Attleboro Outlasts Santos, Taunton In Rubber Match
TAUNTON, Mass. — It wasn’t until the final buzzer echoed throughout the Rabouin Field House that Attleboro head coach Mark Houle could finally breath a sigh of relief.
“You’re never safe when Troy Santos is on the other team,” Houle said.
The Bombardiers looked poised to close out a win over the Tigers on a handful of occasions in the fourth quarter, but it was Santos that willed the home team back into every time. It wasn’t until Michael Beverly’s two free throws with 0.3 seconds left that Attleboro finally put Taunton away, a 57-52 decision in a Round of 32 clash in the Division 1 bracket.
“[Troy’s] an outstanding player that can hit from anywhere,” Houle said. “I was proud of our guys, especially at the foul line at the end and we were 13-of-15 overall. We needed them and the kids stepped up and showed some toughness and some focus. Our younger players made some key plays for us, and also had some plays that make you realize they are young. It’s a learning experience every game and I’m glad we came out on top.”
A putback from junior Neo Franco (13 points, six rebounds, four assists) put the Bombardiers up five with a minute to go. Five isn’t typically a large lead, but this one was neck-and-neck and the largest lead at any point was seven when the Bombardiers went up 42-35 midway through the fourth.
Santos quickly got the ball up the court and drove to his right, fighting through contact for the and-one to cut the deficit back to two. Two free throws from Attleboro senior Justin Hanrahan (11 points, nine rebounds) preceded one from Franco as Attleboro’s lead was 51-46 with 30 seconds to go. It took Santos just seconds to get up the floor and launch a three that hit nothing but net.
Taunton forced the Bombardiers into a pair of timeouts after successfully trapping but had to foul with 10.6 seconds left and senior Jaiden Outland (11 points, six rebounds) pushed the lead to 53-49 with 10.6 seconds to go. Once again it was Santos that raced up the court and this time he leaned into a three that got a nice roll to make it a one-point game with 4.6 seconds to go.
Attleboro freshman Connor Houle calmly stepped to the line and sank two clutch free throws to get the lead back to three, and the Tigers ended up losing the ball on the way up court. A foul with 0.3 seconds left sent Beverly to the line to finish it out. Houle finished with a career-high 13 points.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Mark Houle said. “We’ve been in situations throughout the course of the season that when teams start doubling us, and jumping us that we haven’t always made the right decision but it’s something we’re getting better at. [Taunton] put us in some situations where we turned it over, and we had a couple of turnovers that led to direct points in key moments that hurt us. That put them right back in it but our senior leadership, and Neo as a junior too, really came through for us.”
Santos finished with 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, which accounted for all but one of the Tigers’ final 15 points.
“When you’re relying on one guy… we needed a second scorer,” said Taunton head coach Charlie Dacey. “The offense was being run all one direction and it will come back to bite you. We just became one dimensional. Some of the stuff he threw up there was tough, but you can’t rely on winning a ball game on shots like that. It’s too bad because it was a nice defensive effort.”
Before the thrilling end, the Tigers and Bombardier were locked into a rock fight for three quarters. Playing one another for the third team this season, there weren’t any secrets and points were at a premium.
Tyson Carter (seven points) had a strong start, and buckets from senior Chris Volcy (10 points, four rebounds) and freshman Jakari Innocent (seven points, eight rebounds) helped the Tigers take a 13-10 lead after a quarter, but both offenses struggled to get much going in the second.
Attleboro opened with an 8-0 run over the first three and a half minutes, a bucket from Outland, back-to-back putbacks from Hanrahan, and a layup from Franco gave the visitors a boost but they would only manage two points over the final four minutes (a steal and score from Beverly),
“Justin down low, he played hard,” Houle said of Hanrahan. “He’s our big, he might not be the biggest of the bigs but he battles hard down there, he really worked hard. He’s a crafty left-hander and he did a good job for us. Even if he isn’t scoring, just getting him touches opens things up for everything else.”
Attleboro’s defense did its part, holding the Tigers to just four points — back-to-back scores from Dimari Brown and Santos, and the Bombardier led 20-17 at half.
The trend continued in the third as Attleboro had its third straight 10-point quarter. Taunton more than tripled its second quarter output as Innocent had an assist, a steal, and a layup all within the first 40 seconds to get Taunton going.
After Hanrahan opened the scoring in the fourth, Houle had consecutive takes to the rim for points. He also had a key bucket with under four minutes to play that put the Bombardiers up 44-37. He finished with 10 of his 13 points in the final quarter.
“He’s a tough, gritty kid and he’s been challenged all year, and his teammates have a lot of confidence in him too,” Mark Houle said of his youngest son Connor. “He’s not shy to make the right pass which is most important and he’s also one of our top free throw shooters. He made some really mature plays at times.
“We want guys that have open shots to take them. [Connor] is certainly capable of doing it, but he’s also a good distributor. Tonight he was open a few times and he took the shots he’s capable of.”
Taunton got its offense going by amping up its defensive pressure, extending its press at times in the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we have, but [Attleboro] handled it enough,” Dacey said. “They never went over the edge. It felt like we almost had them at the breaking point but [Houle] was able to settle them down and they’d come back and handled it. We just weren’t able to sustain anything offensively and they found a crack here or there in the defense. Like I told the kids, they just made a couple more plays than we did.”
Attleboro boys basketball (15-9) advances to the Division 1 Round of 16 and will travel to #2 Lawrence on Tuesday at 6:30. The Lancers advanced with a win over King Philip on Thursday. Taunton finishes the season
Boys Basketball Photos: Foxboro vs. Norwood
Foxboro Comeback Bid Falls Short Against Norwood
FOXBORO, Mass. – Foxboro (15-9) had trailed almost from the opening tip of Friday night’s Div. 2 Round of 32 game. The Warriors took a 4-3 lead but it would be their last of the night. Norwood grabbed control of the game in the first quarter and with less than 10 seconds remaining went to the line with a chance to make it a two-possession game.
The Warriors had battled all night and had cut an eight-point deficit down to two. When the front-end of the one-and-one clanged off the rim, it looked like the hosts would have a last chance to keep their season alive. Instead, Norwood senior Noah Beaudet snuck between a pair of Foxboro players to snatch the rebound.
Beaudet sunk both free throws, giving him a game-high 30 points and ending Foxboro’s comeback attempt. Norwood, the defending Div. 2 runners-up, knocked off the Warriors 60-58 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
“We just weren’t able to come up with the key stop when we needed it,” Foxboro coach Jon Gibbs explained. Give a ton of credit to Norwood. They made huge plays down the stretch when they had to. Noah Beaudet is one of the best players in the state, certainly one of the best players we’ve seen all year and time and time again he made huge plays for them.”
That final, game-winning, play by Beaudet was just one of many examples of Norwood finding a way to prevent Foxboro from grabbing back the lead in front of a packed gym that was waiting to explode into life.
Beaudet got the Mustangs off to a strong start on the offensive end, knocking down four pull-up jumpers and scoring eight points in the first. He then drew extra defenders, which opened up good looks for Matty Mahoney (14 points) and Dylan Hamway (eight points), who combined for 10 in the opening quarter.
Foxboro struggled to get into a rhythm on the other end of the floor. Ryan Cotter (seven points and seven rebounds) scored from the opening tip and had a nice finish on a drive, but the other eight points in the first all came from senior Alex Penders. Fresh off reaching the 1,000-point mark for his career, Penders battled underneath with a series of tough finishes to try and keep Foxboro close.
Gibbs said, “Unfortunately, we didn’t finish plays as well as we wanted to tonight. We though we had some good looks that just didn’t go in. Sometimes basketball is that way. On those nights, you try to carry the game with your defense and get some offensive rebounds but in the end we couldn’t do enough.”
Norwood ended the first on a 5-0 run and added the first five points of the second too and went up by 11. Sinking back into a zone, the Mustangs were forcing the Warriors to try and hit shots from the perimeter. Ryan Kelley (12 points) took a skip pass from Nolan Gordon and knocked down the first three for the hosts. Kelley then added a baseline drive, plus the foul, to cut the lead down to just five.
Cotter followed with a drive of his own and it looked like Foxboro was climbing back into it, but Mahoney responded with an and-one on the other end. After Ryan LeClair’s steal and layup made it a four-point game, Hamway kept a possession alive by saving an offensive rebound right in front of the Foxboro bench and Beaudet scored with 6.4 on the clock.
Down seven in the third, Sam Golub grabbed an offensive board for a put-back, but Beaudet answered with a jumper. Kelley also got a put-back that made it 39-36 and, after a couple of Norwood free throws, Penders took a defensive rebound coast-to-coast for two. Again, momentum was building for the hosts, but Beaudet drilled a big three and hit two at the line.
Kelley knocked down his second three of the night, but Manny Llongo avoided a charge call for a layup that made it 48-41 heading to the fourth.
With the season on the brink, Foxboro turned to its star player. Penders (22 points and 12 rebounds), who played all 32 minutes, finished at the rim after grabbing three offensive boards.
“Obviously, he does so much for us at both ends of the floor,” Gibbs said of Penders. “His leadership is incredible. He’s been our anchor this whole season and he certainly left it all out there on the court again tonight and he’s an incredible player and incredible kid.
Golub had a rough night from the floor, but the senior came through in the fourth, scoring eight of his 12 points. He drained a three that cut the Norwood lead down to 50-47. Beaudet answered the call yet again, driving baseline for a layup. Penders would score in the post to keep Foxboro within three with 3:35 to play and Golub sank a pair at the line to cut the lead to just one.
This time it was Mahoney who hit the big pull-up jumper for the Mustangs and then Beaudet snuck in to grab an offensive rebound and scored to make it 56-51. After a Golub free throw, Penders bullied his way to the basket again, scoring with 50.3 on the clock to make it 56-54.
Beaudet was fouled and made both shots to extend the lead back to four with 26 seconds to go. Foxboro took its time offensively, working the ball around and Golub came up with another huge shot, nailing a pull-up with 9.6 left.
There was still hope for the hosts, until Beaudet hustled to make one last decisive play that kept Norwood alive for at least another round.
“To the credit of our guys, they never panicked,” Gibbs said. “They knew that if we stayed true to our plan and tried to execute as best as we could that we could climb back in it and I’m really proud of them for never giving up. That’s who we are.”
Boys Basketball Photos: Franklin vs. Weymouth
Allen Ignites Franklin In Playoff Win Over Weymouth
FRANKLIN, Mass. — As Franklin prepared all week to go against Weymouth’s aggressive zone defense, the Panthers knew they’d have some looks from outside.
Senior Justin Allen certainly took advantage of that opportunity.
Allen was nearly flawless as poured in a career-high 25 points on 8-for-9 shooting from three-point land, leading the third-seeded Panthers to a hard-fought 61-49 win over #30 Weymouth in a Division 1 Round of 32 game.
“I just hit the open shots, my teammates found me and once I see a couple go in, that basket just gets bigger,” Allen said. “With them in a zone, it just opens things up for us and we have great creators like Ben Harvey and Bradley [Herndon], and everyone else too. They were finding me and I was just knocking down shots.
“We have a bunch of great shooters on this team and that helps me out because they can’t just focus on me. We’ve got guys like Geino [Scaringello], Andrew O’Neill, and Caden Sullivan who can really just knock down threes so you can’t focus on one guy, that’s what is so special about this team.”
Allen and the Panthers wasted little time finding the range against the Wildcats’ 1-3-1 zone. He sank a pair of threes in the opening eight minutes — the first bucket of the game off of a pass from O’Neill (eight points, seven rebounds, four assists) and another from the corner that gave the hosts their first double-digit advantage of the game.
Junior Sean O’Leary (20 points, six rebounds) also dropped in a pair of threes while O’Neill had another for a total of five in the first quarter to help Franklin set the tone, and take the lead (19-10).
Franklin went scoreless for nearly three minutes to start the second quarter but Allen ignited the offense when he hit a three with five minutes to go in the half. His second three of the quarter came just 30 seconds later after Ben Harvey (six points, three rebounds) sliced into the zone before kicking it back out. Allen assisted O’Leary the next trip and then O’Leary returned the favor one trip later, finding Allen open in the corner.
“We’ve really been clicking recently,” Allen said, “That Mansfield loss was a wake-up call for us. We’ve been going really hard in practice and guys know what time of year it is and nothing is guaranteed, no one is going to hand it to us. Weymouth is the 30-seed but that was a tough game, that was a full 32 minutes of competing.”
After hitting his first five threes, Allen went up for a heat check as he quickly launched a deep three off a pass from Harvey and it was pure to extend the lead to 33-21 with two minutes left in the first half. A putback from Harvey inside the final minute gave Franklin a 35-26 halftime lead.
“Three hard days of working against aggressive zone defense,” said Franklin head coach CJ Neely on preparing for the game. “We spent so much time focusing on the 1-3-1 or diamond-and-one, whatever you want to call it. We thought we’d see a lot of zone and then we did a good job getting Justin a lot of good looks. Even other guys got really good looks but just didn’t hit like they usually do. That was a full team win because they gave an unbelievable effort in practice this week simulating their defense.”
The three-point barrage slowed some in the second half but the four triples that the Panthers did hit were timely. O’Neill opened the second half with one and the Panthers were able to attack the basket against Weymouth’s defense, which switched to man-to-man.
Harvey had four straight, including a traditional three-point play, and O’Leary cleaned up his own miss plus the foul. With success getting to the rim, Allen found himself open in the corner and his quick release hit nothing but net, his seventh straight make.
“When they got up on us, and they started denying Justin the ball, we have guys like Ben, O’Leary, and [Bradley] Herndon that can really get downhill and find themselves in the paint, and not only do they get in there, they are willing passers,” Neely said. “Even if you don’t score in there, the ability to get downhill and make the defense rotate. Credit to [Weymouth], they play really hard and made us battle the whole second half.”
Although Allen missed his next three on a heat check, the Panthers carried a 48-36 lead into the final quarter. Sophomore Caden Sullivan drained a three off a pass from Herndon (six rebounds, four assists) off of a set play and the Panthers had their biggest lead at 51-38. The Wildcats clawed back within eight twice but Allen’s eighth and final triple of the game midway through the fourth restored the double-digit advantage and Franklin stayed in front down the stretch.
While Allen was red-hot from three-point, the Panthers had some inconsistencies in the offense throughout the night. But old reliable — Franklin’s defense — stayed steady all night and held the Wildcats under 50 points.
“That’s the beauty of what we’ve done here for a while is the ability to get stops and weather those storms of poor shooting or lack of finishing, we can get through those when we have guys like Harvey playing defense on [Edric Louissaint] and O’Neill on [Gill] Dolan, who had 33 points in a game earlier this year. To be able to shut those primary options down and make other guys score, that’s a great job by those two and everyone else too.”
Franklin boys basketball (19-1) will host #14 Brockton, who took down Methuen, 66-49, in the Round of 16 on Tuesday at 6:00.
Laplante Powers King Philip Past Hingham
WRENTHAM, Mass. — The King Philip boys basketball team had to anxiously wait four days to find out if their 10-12 campaign was good enough to earn a spot in the state tournament.
The Warriors ended up earning the 31st seed in the Division 1 state tournament, and senior Will Laplante was not going to let that opportunity go to waste.
Laplante had an incredible second half, pouring in 28 of his career-high 32 points including the go-ahead three-pointer with two minutes to go — only the Warriors’ second lead of the entire game — and King Philip emerged with a 73-67 win over #34 Hingham.
The win was KP’s first postseason victory since 2012, a decision over Whitman-Hanson powered by Jake Layman.
“For us to see our name in that bracket, we felt like we were given an opportunity, and we had to do something with it,” Laplante said. “We had a couple of tough losses in the last two weeks, and we were close to not making it in so getting this chance, we knew we had to take advantage of it.
“I really wanted to slow it down, just needed to calm down and let the game come to me. After getting the two fouls in the first, I was trying to help my teammates more and try and get some offensive rebounds. And the second half, it was just go time. If it was going to happen, it had to happen then. We talked in the locker room about this was it, this was our season, and we came together and got it done. It was nice to see that one go in. I really thank coach because he drew up a play for me at the start of the second half and that really brought me back into it. I hit that one three, and I felt it right there.”
The senior guard was limited to just four points in the opening half, hitting just one shot from the field, and missed a good stretch after picking up his second foul in the first quarter. Despite a rough shooting performance in the first half, head coach Dave DeStefano went right back to Laplante early in the third quarter and the rest was history.
“Over the last week, Will has realized he doesn’t want this season to end and he’s going to do whatever it takes to keep going, and he proved that tonight,” DeStefano said. “He had some really good looks in the first half but once those first couple of shots fell in the second half, he really got it going. He looked more comfortable and the game started to slow down for him.
“[In the first half] he was taking good shots, he was playing with composure so I’m going to let him go because he’s a basketball player. He knows there will be ups and downs, and it’s a game of runs, and Will did a great job tonight responding. He finished really strong for us.”
He hit four shots in a row inside the first four minutes of the second half, including three straight threes and a strong take to the rim that handed KP its first lead of the game at 43-42.
The lead only lasted a minute as Hingham’s 1,000-point scorer Liam McBride (21 points, five rebounds) hit a tough runner to put the Harbormen back in front. He combined with Chase Mello (23 points) to spark a 9-0 run for the visitors and KP’s small lead was quickly back to a deficit.
Hingham led for the first six minutes of the final quarter, coming up with an answer each time KP made a move. Laplante drained an early triple but Hingham’s Charlie Matthews converted a putback and McBride finished down low as the lead stretched back to seven, 59-52, with less than five minutes to go.
Senior Tommy Martorano (20 points) got out in transition for a layup, Laplante converted a traditional three-point play and then had a steal and assist to classmate Grant Kinney (four rebounds, five assists, and a strong defensive performance) to finally get level again at 59-59, but Mello was fouled seconds later and his free throws with 3:20 put Hingham back ahead.
Martorano once again got out in transition, this time using a nice spin move to finish with his favored left hand before two more free throws from Mello kept the advantage with Hingham.
Laplante promptly responded with another triple to put KP ahead 64-63 with two minutes to go and the Warriors did not trail the rest of the way.
Junior Tommy McLeish hauled in one of his seven boards off a miss and Laplante, who went 11-for-15 at the line, hit two free throws to extend the lead to 66-63.
Sophomore Tommy Kilroy (11 points, eight rebounds, three assists) came up with a key block on a baseline jumper with under a minute to go, and McLeish was able to battle for a key defensive board off of a Hingham free throw miss. Martorano, Laplante, and Kilroy combined to go 7-for-8 from the line in the final moments to secure the win.
After going down 59-52, KP did not allow Hingham another field goal the rest of the way as the Harbormen got their final eight points over the final five minutes all from the free throw line.
“It was all about getting stops, especially in the tournament,” DeStefano said. “You need to get stops and it started on the defensive end for us. I’m not saying we played great defensively but in the fourth quarter, when we needed to dig in they did a good job of getting stops.”
“With our backs against the wall, our defense really got us back into it,” Laplante said. “We had a couple of score-stop-scores and just getting those stops in the fourth quarter really helped us.”
The Warriors struggled to get going from the three-point line out of the gates, going just 1-for-10 from distance over the first eight minutes, but only trailed 17-12. Kilroy dropped in two threes in the second quarter, Martorano added five points, and sophomores Jack Assini (six points) and Brandon Nicastro combined for six in the quarter to keep the Warriors close, 34-30, at halftime.
King Philip boys basketball (11-12) advances to the Division 1 Round of the 32 and will travel to play #2 Lawrence (20-2) on Thursday at 6:30.