Boys’ hoop wins OT thriller on Senior Night

Warriors close season with back-to-back victories

Published in the February 20, 2018 edition.

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — Senior Night’s usually provide positive memories that last a lifetime, win or lose. But sometimes they’re so much sweeter.

The Wakefield High boys’ basketball team might not have expected supreme excitement at their senior night on Thursday. They were out of postseason contention, battling a Stoneham team with a similar record. It can be tough for a senior class to play with the same type of motivation and desire during these types of situations. Somebody must have forgotten to tell that to Wakefield’s six members of the class of 2018, as the Warriors leaned on their leaders for a comeback overtime win, 62-57.

The seniors, playing in a rare game in which all six were at least healthy enough to be on the court, made a statement in the 1st quarter, jumping out to a 13-6 lead after one.

Much to the delight of the Red Sea student section who provided a strong presence for the seniors’ last game at Charbonneau, the first quarter belonged to senior Jon Jordan, who mixed and matched a nice outside shot with tough drives to the rim, as each bucket drew a louder applause than the previous one, creating a Red Sea crescendo for the ages as he accounted for 11 points in the frame, single-handedly outscoring Stoneham by five.

It was a nice moment for a very deserving player. This was Jordan’s only year with Wakefield basketball as he transferred back home for his senior season.

“Johnny is very popular,” said head coach Brad Simpson. “This year the kids really embraced him; he’s a terrific kid. He had a great first period.”

Stoneham battled back in the 2nd, outscoring Wakefield 25-9 to take a 31-22 lead into the break.

Simpson and the Warriors adjusted in the second half, changing their defensive look and also figuring out a way to combat Stoneham’s box and one on leading scorer Andrew Miller.

“I thought we came out smoking but then we kind of fell apart defensively,” said Simpson. “We weren’t making the right rotations in the zone so we went man to man and it worked.”

“The key to the box and one is you need to cut, go short corner and look for the cutters and we had some guys wide-open underneath.”

This senior class is very good on the defensive end, with Miller, Joe Carmilia-Smith and Max Hinchey on the perimeter and Jack Shannon and Devin O’Brien in the paint. The Warriors forced turnovers with their zone defense and found success on offense with ball movement and off-the-ball movement as they slowly chipped away to set up a fourth quarter where they could make a move.

Down eight in the final frame, Wakefield’s gameplan, execution, and most importantly, desire to win their final home game, all came together.

After two quick buckets, including a layup from junior Billy O’Keefe, Stoneham took a timeout, which only seemed to verify Wakefield’s inevitable comeback.

The Warriors would need their defense to keep up the pressure, and sophomore Ryan Marcus stole it and laid off a sweet pass to a trailing Miller who got an and-one to make it 45-41 Stoneham with 5:30 left.

The Warriors continued to battle back as Miller hit two free throws to tie it at 49. Unfortunately, Miller fouled out with 50 seconds left and Wakefield up one, as the co-captain got a nice applause from the Warrior faithful for an excellent four years with Wakefield basketball, culminating in a well-deserved nod from the Middlesex League as he was named an All-Star this season.

After two trips to the foul line for Stoneham resulted in a 52-50 Spartan lead, the Warriors got the ball with under 30 seconds left. Carmilia-Smith handled it and found O’Keefe who drove into the lane and put up a floater which rolled around and in to tie it. Stoneham couldn’t get a shot off and the game went to overtime.

Max Hinchey stepped up in overtime, as he worked to move the ball and create extra shots for his teammates. As is so often the case, his unselfish play was rewarded with a couple of open looks that he took advantage of for a big three that made it 55-52.

Marcus made two clutch free throws and Carmilia-Smith put together two consecutive shut down plays on the defensive end, while O’Keefe controlled the glass to keep Stoneham at arm’s length.

Carmilia-Smith made a nice bounce pass to O’Keefe who converted and followed that up with a huge block. O’Keefe’s rejection unsurprisingly got a loud response from the Red Sea but it also got a big reaction out of Hinchey, a usually composed competitor who let loose a “let’s go!” after recognizing the importance of that play. Hinchey scored a team-high 13 points; another well-deserved Charbonneau swan song for another worthy Warrior.

“I was very happy for Max Hinchey,” said Simpson. “He’s been in the program all four years. He keeps his mouth shut, comes to practice and works hard. He worked on his game in the offseason and he had 13 points on senior night and a couple of big threes while making a huge difference defensively.”

In fact, it was a fitting end for all the seniors. Jordan finished with 12 points, Miller had 8, O’Brien had 7, Carmilia-Smith added 5 and Shannon, although not typically the best scorer, provided the glue once again with excellent defense and rebounding.

“Jack Shannon has been kind of our rock,” said Simpson. “You know you’re going to get good defense. He’s a good decision maker and solid rebounder. You can really depend on him.”

Simpson was also really happy for Carmilia-Smith. It should be noted that the co-captain played very hard off the bench, conceding his usually starting spot so someone like Jordan could experience a start at the Field House. Carmiilia-Smith even greeted each one of his classmates with a handshake as their names were announced.

As for O’Brien, the coach was just glad to see him on the court as the co-captain has been down and out most of the season with injury and illness. The Warriors were a different team with O’Brien on the court, even if he wasn’t 100 percent. While it might hurt to think of what might have been had the Warriors been healthy all season, it was just nice to see the seniors together one last time. And what a memory they provided.

Close out season with win

Wakefield traveled to Northeast Vocational on Friday for their last contest of the season. The Warriors put together a complete game on both ends for a resounding 82-49 victory.

The win meant Wakefield closed the season winning three of their last four games.

Eleven Warriors scored in this one with Miller (23 pts. 7 reb. 6 asst.) leading the way.

“We got out on them early,” said Simpson, as Wakefield took a 19-4 lead after one quarter.

The Warriors kicked the doors down in the 3rd with a 21-12 advantage in the quarter to take a comfortable 62-34 lead into the 4th.

“It was a great way to close out the season,” said Simpson.

As was the case all year, Wakefield didn’t have a complete team, but 13 out of 16 played, which is better than it has been in most games this season.

Ryan Marcus finished with 13 points, Pat Hannigan had 9, Hinchey, O’Brien and Jack Matuszewski each had 6, Carmilia-Smith and Quinn Bayers got 5, O’Keefe had 4, Jordan got 3 and Brian McGunigle had 2.

Coach Simpson wanted to thank his coaching staff for their hard work during the season, especially the varsity assistant Brian Sweeney from the class of ‘99.

The Warriors weren’t where they wanted to be at the end of the season, but they closed the right way, battling hard to the end.

“Obviously we wanted to go further but we won three of our last four games. I give the kids a lot of credit, they stayed with it and got some wins at the end of the season.”