Warriors travel to Scituate High tonight at 6:30 p.m.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
SPRINGFIELD — Before the 28th-ranked Wakefield High boys’ basketball team could orchestrate their thrilling 59-50 win over No. 12 Pembroke on Tuesday night (story in March 9 edition), they had to first shock Division 2 with a 67-56 victory over No. 5 Pope Francis last Friday night.
The Warriors made themselves believe throughout the game against the Cardinals, overcoming a slow start in which Pope Francis went up 15-8 after one and led by as many as nine in the first half.
Wakefield’s response to the first was to win the next three quarters which they did by a combined 18 points.
The Warriors had a balanced attack led by senior captain Jeff DiFazio who had a game-high 18 points including 4 3-pointers to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Wakefield also got double digit scoring from juniors Ethan Margolis (16 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals) and Mike Wilkinson (15 points, 10 rebounds).
Seniors, captain Andrew Quinn (9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists), Matt Sellers (2 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals) and Sean Russell (7 points, 3 steals) made up most of the rotation for head coach Colin Halpin who won his second state tournament game in as many tries after Wakefield’s preliminary round win over Masco at home.
The seniors stepped up to help their team stay in it during a cold-shooting first as the Warriors were no doubt still getting warmed up from their 100.6 mile bus ride from WMHS to PFP.
Quinn hit two mid range jumpers and DiFazio stuck in a second chance bucket while Sellers scored on a hard drive, but the Cardinals were connecting from deep early.
The Warriors, meanwhile, had gone 0-for-5 from 3-point range when Halpin called a timeout with his team down 19-10 early in the second.
The response? Wakefield hit four of their final seven attempts from deep to close the half, including two from DiFazio, one from Quinn and one from Wilkinson. A 19-11 Warrior run to end the 2nd quarter cut the Pope Francis lead to 31-29 heading into halftime.
The Warriors were plenty warm to start the second half hitting their first four 3-point attempts (two from Margolis, one from DiFazio and Wilkinson) as they took their first lead at 35-33 and never relinquished it.
The second triple from Margolis, assisted by DiFazio, made it 41-33 and a stunned Cardinal team called for timeout in a gym that Wakefield’s traveling faithful made sure was still plenty loud.
Pope Francis responded well to their own timeout, going on a 9-2 run to make it 43-42 Wakefield with 2:30 left in the third.
Margolis, also known as “Playoff E” to his teammates, settled it down with a mid range jumper and on the next defensive possession, tipped it away, ran the court and received a great dime from Sellers for an easy layup. DiFazio snagged another offensive rebound and found Russell whose bucket capped a 6-0 Warrior run to close the quarter with Wakefield up 49-42.
Russell drew a charge to open the fourth quarter and Wilkinson followed with a tough two through contact on a dribble handoff play to go up 51-42. Later leading 53-45 and the Cardinals desperate for momentum, Margolis instead broke their ankles and then their backs with a nasty right to left euro step, and-one, the Wakefield bench jumping to their feet as the junior guard fell to the floor. That play, with about five minutes left, really took the air out of the gym – no better feeling for a road team.
Wakefield finished strong, a between-the-legs step-back 3 from DiFazio putting the final touches on Wakefield’s masterpiece as they advanced to the Sweet 16.
The Warriors, who kept that momentum going with their exciting win over Pembroke, will now look meet No. 13 Scituate, who beat No. 4 Leominster 61-57 in the round of 16. The Sailors crushed No. 45 Revere in the first round, 80-41. Scituate hit eight 3-pointers in their win over Leominster led by Michael Porter (14 points), Keegan Sullivan (12) and Samuel Benning (11).
The teams will tip off at 6:30 p.m. tonight. For live updates, follow us on Twitter @Wakeitemsports.
