Washed-Up Ballers Association has evolved into Wakefield’s best summer hoops showcase

RYAN MARCUS racked up 20 points in his team’s win over Team Bayers last week. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — The Washed-Up Ballers Association has the perfect name for irony. 

It might someday be more accurate when the current group of mostly 20-something’s roll into the Charbonneau Field House an hour before game-time to get a stretch in and tape up the ankles. 

That’s not the case right now during the league’s 7^th season. 

Started in the winter of 2016-17 by Will Shea (Wakefield High ’17) the Washed-Up Ballers have evolved from four teams into a six-team league with mostly 10-player rosters.

This isn’t your average pick-up game. 

Of course, you’ll see mostly former Warriors, returning to relive their hoop glories with old teammates – some of them now rivals.

But the new WBA isn’t just about catching up. That’s a key aspect according to Shea, but the bigger idea is about competition. 

That much was evident during the league’s third week of the season last Tuesday night at the field house. Yes, the Washed-Up Ballers are for everyone, but there are some unwritten rules. You more or less have to be a Wakefield guy. And you need to able to play. Because this will get real…fast.

That’s where the irony comes in, because right now, this level of basketball could actually be the peak. 

The first game, featuring Team Marcus vs. Team Bayers – in a clash of former Wakefield High teammates turned Washed-Up captains Ryan Marcus and Quinn Bayers – featured plenty of scoring with Marcus finishing with 20 followed by 13 from Pat Collins and 10 from Anthony Vinciguerra to help Team Marcus pull away with a 69-64 win. 

The games feature eight, five-minute segments with a running clock. Different five-man rotations are required so that every player gets more-or-less equal playing time. 

Recent St. John’s Prep grad Liam Buys had 25 points for Team Bayers, including the best shot of the night, a buzzer-beater from halfcourt to end what was essentially the first half with Marcus up 42-40.

Team Marcus started to pull away in the 6^th and 7^th thanks in large part to back-to-back, pure hustle putbacks from Devin O’Brien to make it 50-44. Marcus followed with a slick spin and a layup followed by a highlight block off the backboard to force a timeout from Bayers.

Another Buys 3 at the buzzer kept it close but it didn’t stop the momentum as Marcus later hit a triple from the junior parking lot to push the lead back to 10 and Collins had the play of the game for his team, fighting through a ton of contact to somehow finish for an and-one, which essentially salted this one away.

The league, which runs for 11 weeks during the summer, features some current and recent college hoopers, including Marcus, set to enter his senior year as a walk-on for UMass.  

That list includes a team captain featured in the second game last week, Chris MacDonald, a recent graduate from Salem State and a four-year starter who made All-Conference honors in his senior season. MacDonald beat Team (Andrew) Miller in the second game, 55-47. MacDonald had 11 in limited action. It was Nate Hendricks, one of three Hendricks brothers, who led the charge for Team MacDonald finishing with 28 points, the highest total in the three games played. Miller had a team-high 16 and John Bennett chipped in 12. 

It was a close game throughout, a Bennett 3 giving Team Miller the lead before Ty Drago beat the buzzer for a triple and a 26-25 lead for Team MacDonald at the half. 

Zack Price had 5 in the 5^th period to give Miller a 32-30 advantage but Nate Hendricks went off for 9 consecutive points to spark an 11-0 run in the 6^th including multiple strong finishes at the rim and a 3-pointer to change the game and give his team a 40-32 advantage. Team Miller clawed back to make it a 3-point game going into the 7^th but Team MacDonald picked up the defense and some good takes by Will Hendricks and Ryan Sullivan along with another 3 by Nate gave them a comfortable 8-point lead going into the 8^th before they finished it up.

The last game featured Team (Kobey) Nadeau vs. Team (Brett) Okundaye in perhaps the best matchup of the night. After a back-and-forth slugfest with multiple lead-changes, Okundaye, the reigning champs, pulled away for a 70-64 win. Okundaye, a Framingham State player who certainly qualifies as one of the league’s best, led a balanced scoring attack with 23 points. Michael Tansey added 16 and Michael O’Keefe had 10.

Okundaye, the reigning champs, started slowly thanks to a couple 3’s and good defense from Nadeau (10 pts) and John Evangelista (13 pts).  

In the chippiest and chirpiest game of the night, it was the reigning champs, Team Okundaye who had more in the tank. Okundaye and O’Keefe each hit two 3’s to steal the momentum going into the half up 38-34.

Team Nadeau kept it close, tying it 49-49 in the 6^th before Tansey took over with some strong offense.

Okundaye took his turn again in the 7^th with multiple tough drives to push the lead to 61-54.

Evangelista hit a couple 3’s to keep his team in it but Andrew Quinn played well for Team Okundaye in the 8^th a big offensive rebound breaking a one-possession game and a nice pass to his former teammate Okundaye pushing it to a five-point lead which was enough to keep them in front until the final buzzer. 

In the end, the Washed-Up Ballers put on a great show featuring the best of the best in one of the North Shore’s most basketball-rich towns. 

Now connected with the Wakefield Basketball Association which most of the current players grew up in, the Washed-Up Ballers have access to both the field house and Americal Civic Center, and they have multiple local sponsors as well, including the T-Stop which makes their jerseys. 

Year 7 is certainly the best yet for the league, with plenty more not-so-washed-up success to come.