Boys’ hoop team erases 24 point deficit against Burlington

Warriors stage historic comeback, prevail in double overtime

Published in the January 16, 2017 edition.

By DAN BYRNE

WAKEFIELD — “I don’t know how many years now, 40 odd years, I’ve been watching Wakefield High School basketball,” Head Coach Brad Simpson began his post game interview on Friday night following an 81-73 win over Burlington in double overtime at the Charbonneau Field House. “That probably was the best comeback that I’ve seen.”

The Warriors came out a little flat to start the game with Burlington jumping out to a 7-0 within a matter of minutes. Wakefield struggled to find the range shooting the ball. The Red Devils had no such issues, as Burlington’s Will Melanson’s 12 points helped the visitors to a 24-7 lead after one quarter.

Wakefield shot the ball better in the second quarter as the team put up 17 points. Burlington was just on fire. The visitors pinned down their hosts with a barrage of three-point field goals, sinking four in each of the first two quarters.

Coach Simpson took some of his more frequently used players out of the game in favor of Devin O’Brien, Max Hinchey, Calvin Connor and Ryan Marcus, to give the starters a rest.

“When we weren’t with them I took out Kobey Nadeau, John Evangelista, Andrew Miller, and Zach Price. I got them out for three or four minutes. We were already down 20, it got to 24, so it was minute. Who knows, maybe that helped their legs in the double overtime?”

At halftime the outcome looked bleak. The Warriors faced a steep uphill climb in the second half as they trailed 48-24 at the break.

“We made two adjustments,” Coach Simpson said, “We talked about two things at halftime. (Mariano) Rodriguez, the point guard was killing us with the pick and roll. So we decided to use the defensive man of the screener to double and chase him.”

This worked to a great effect.

“He wasn’t able to get to the basket. We got it out of his hands,” the coach said.

Burlington point guard  Rodriguez was the catalyst to Burlington’s big second quarter, as he scored 14 of his 20 points. It seemed like he couldn’t miss in the second quarter, but the Warriors adjusted at halftime. He had just three points in the second half and overtime.

“All the shots were going down for them in the first half,” Coach Simpson said. “That was the other thing we told the kids. They couldn’t maintain that shooting accuracy in the second half, and if they did, we would shake their hands and go home because we were going to lose.”

The coaches told the players their thoughts, “We told them we didn’t think they could do that and if we held them to one shot and they missed, they didn’t get any second chances, then we could slowly start to work our way back into it.”

That was the magic formula that led to Friday night being a night to remember. The Warriors outscored their opponent 11-0 to open the second half and 17-3 in the third quarter to cut the lead from 24 down to 10, at 51-41.

“In the third quarter, we held them to one shot, and one offensive rebound,” Simpson remarked.

As the fourth quarter began, Wakefield had swung the momentum in its favor.

Senior Andrew DeLeire had a big hand in sending his team to victory, with 13 of his 17 points coming in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Playing an even larger role was senior big man  Nadeau, who had 14 of his game high 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. He also came up huge on the glass, with 11 of the 15 rebounds he snatched coming in the second half and overtime.

With less than three minutes to go, Wakefield had brought the deficit down to two points on a DeLeire three-pointer, trailing 59-57.

The next trip down for Burlington, Ryan Culhane went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to give Burlington a 60-57 lead. DeLeire madetwo free-throws the next time down for Wakefield to make it a one point game. After stopping the Red Devils from scoring, Nadeau got a huge bucket down low for the Warriors to give Wakefield a 61-60 lead with just 1:10 to play. The Warriors took a three point lead after a defensive rebound and a foul saw Nadeau make two more foul shots.

With time winding down, Melanson got to the basket for Burlington and a timely three-point play tied the game at 63-all where the score stood at the end of regulation.

In the first overtime, Wakefield took a quick four point lead after baskets by Nadeau and Evangelista. Burlington came right back and claimed the lead with back to back three-pointers. Nadeau responded with a hoop for Wakefield, plus a foul, but he missed the free throw. Wakefield got the rebound and Evangelista was fouled and made 1-for-2 from the line giving the Warriors a one-point lead.

The Warrior defense came up big in the clutch the next time down the floor and held Burlington off the board again. A quick foul sent Price to the line where he made both free throws. With 14 seconds to go, Burlington’s Sean Hurley hurried up the floor and found Melanson spotting up for the “3” that tied the game at 72-72. Wakefield’s last second effort came up short and the game went to a second overtime.

That three or four minute reset from the first quarter came in handy, as the second period of overtime tipped off. Wakefield went on to score eight straight points in overtime number two, holding Burlington to just one free throw in the second extra period, as the Warriors secured a hard fought win, 81-73.

Coach Simpson gave the opponents credit for putting his team in a tough spot.

“Burlington played a great game,” the coach said. “We did have a stellar defensive effort. “I think that our coaches, Bryan Sweeney, Dan Looney, and John Amentola did a great job throughout the game talking to the kids, keeping them focused, not letting them get down during timeouts. The kids were getting a lot of positive feedback from the coaches which I think was really big, too. We were all really invested in that one.”

Simpson also gave some credit to the home fans, as the student section turned out for strong attendance on Friday night.

“The Red Sea was great,” the coach said. “They came out Friday night, they had a good time, hopefully we’ll give them some more to cheer about.”

Wakefield’s record improved to 3-4 with the dramatic win. It is the team’s third straight win after starting the season with four consecutive losses.

The Warriors are back in action on Monday, as they host Malden in a game that Wakefield has declared an exemption game, meaning the outcome will not count towards tournament qualification for the Warriors.

—–

WAKEFIELD 81, Burlington 73 (2 OT)

At Charbonneau Field House

—–

Burlington (73) — Melanson 7 2 19; DeMartinis 4 0 8; Anajarian 0 0 0; Rodriguez 7 2 20; Ty. Cannon 2 0 6; Ti. Cannon 0 0 0; R. Culhane 2 1 5; Hurley 2 1 6; S. Culhane 0 0 0; Fitzpatrick 3 0 9. Totals 27 6 73.

WAKEFIELD (81) — Evangelista 6 2 17;  Miller 0 2 2; Marcus 0 0 0; O’Brien 0 0 0; Connor 0 0 0; Hinchey 0 0 0; McKenna 2 4 9; Nadeau 11 3 25; Price 3 4 11; Shannon 0 0 0; DeLeire 6 3 17. Totals 28 18 81.

Score by Quarters — Burlington 24-24-3-12-9-1 — 73. WAKEFIELD 7-17-17-22-9-9 — 81.

Three-point FGs — Bur, Rodriguez 4, Melanson 3, Fitzpatrick 3, Ty. Cannon 2, Hurley 1. Wak, Evangelista 3; DeLeire 2, McKenna 1, Price 1.