Boys Basketball did it. They won their own tournament for the first time in five years by defeating Stoughton, a team that was desperate to qualify for the State Tournament, on Monday February 18 in the championship game of the Walpole Hoop Classic.
In the first game of the tournament, the Rebels defeated the defending Division 2 South Sectional champion Xaverian, 80-69 in overtime. Junior Ryan Fogarty, who led all scorers with 19 points on 6-for-14 shooting, took it to his former high school with momentous three-pointers late in the game to lift Walpole to overtime. In the extra period, junior Mo Young could not be stopped, scoring 6 points in nearly two minutes.
Then on Monday Night, Boys Basketball made an impressive comeback against Stoughton, digging themselves out of a 20 point deficit in the first half with a 45-14 run in the second half. Senior Captain Johnny Adams, who was named tournament MVP, scored 17 points in the championship and limited Marcus Middleton, who scored his 1,oooth career point the night before, to just five points in the second half.
“We forced them to take bad shots that we wanted them to take and we definitely did better on the boards,” said Adams. The Rebels held the 12-8 advantage on boards in the third quarter after being out-rebounded by eight in the second.
With virtually two starting point guards in the lineup—Adams and Fogarty—Boys Basketball distributes the ball very well. Against Stoughton, the Rebels had 16 assists on 27 field goals. Senior Captain Ronnie Shephard had a nice dash across the line along the baseline to Adams for a bucket to cap the third quarter and send Walpole into the fourth up 46-42.
Junior Adam Quinlan, who scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, gave Walpole the lead for good leaning into the lane to score mid-way through the fourth quarter. The Walpole lead reached its apex at 65-50 with 2:47 to go, and when the final buzzer sounded, the score was 76-64.
With the win, Walpole avoided a preliminary State Tournament tilt and was awarded the nine seed in the Division 2 South bracket. On Thursday night, Boys Basketball will head to Hingham to face the Harbormen at 7:00. Hingham is 14-6 with a 9-1 record at home. If you are looking to attend, I would recommend arriving at 5:30-6:00 so that you can get a seat because the gym is not very large. The address for Hingham High School is 17 Union Street.
