There is something about the Walpole High School gymnasium that Coach St. Martin and his team cannot overcome.

In eight games this season, the Rebels are 6-2, with both loses coming at home. The most recent defeat came against the very formidable Milton Wildcats, who defeated the Rebels 78-77  in one of the most exciting high school basketball game ever played at Walpole High School.

With seven seconds left in the contest, Walpole had the ball trailing 78-75. Senior point guard Ryan Fogarty took the ball the length of the court, passed it to senior Captain Adam Quinlan, and he finished a lay up as time expired; however, there was one major flaw in Fogarty’s decision: Walpole was down by three. The Rebels, who were winners of six straight, walked off the court in anguish, knowing they were no longer in first place in the Herget Division.

“The end result of this game did not come down to that one play. We just didn’t play well,” said Quinlan. “You have to give a lot of credit to Milton; they hit their shots when they needed to. We just have to play better as a team.”

The first quarter featured some extremely fast-paced basketball, with both team getting their way on the offensive end. The buzzer sounded after eight minutes of play and senior Captain Scott Arsenault already had three 3-pointers.

However, by the second, Walpole and Milton began to figure each other out, playing much more defensive. It seemed as though the Rebels were going to head into the locker room with a three point lead, but Milton’s captain hit an over-the-head shot from just after the half court line to knot the score at 30.

“That was a huge momentum in the game,” said Quinlan. “We were about to go to half with a three point lead and all of a sudden it’s tied up. And we lost by one point, so that shot was a huge killer for us.”

The second half showcased some of the most exciting basketball in years, with each team answering the other with incredible plays. Arsenault broke his nose late in the third after taking down a rebound, but returned to the game at the start of the fourth when the score was tied 52-52.

Fogarty made a deep three with 6:17 left in the game to extend the Walpole lead to four, but Milton responded with a 10-2 run. The Rebels were able to cut the lead to two with 26.5 seconds left and had a chance to tie or take the lead, but sophomore Kenney Uhlar threw the ball away when he got the rebound.  After Walpole fouled to stop the clock, Milton made a free throw to extend their lead to three–giving Walpole one final chance to tie the game. Unfortunately, this time, two points were not enough.

Quinlan said, “The difference on Friday was that Milton made their shots in the fourth quarter and we didn’t. We’ll be ready next time around when we play them in Milton.”

Boys Basketball looks to get back on a win streak when they play Herget rivals Dedham and Norwood this week.