Warriors come up clutch in thrilling Sweet 16 win over Pembroke

THE WAKEFIELD High boys’ basketball team celebrates their 59-50 victory over Pembroke last night. The No. 28 Warriors will travel to Scituate on Friday night to meet the No. 13 Sailors in the state quarterfinals. In the new statewide format, that would be an equivalent to the former sectional finals, a round the Warriors haven’t reached since 2012. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)

 

 

Travel to Scituate for state quarterfinals, 6:30 p.m. Friday night

 

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

PEMBROKE — In many ways, the 28th-ranked Wakefield High boys’ basketball team must have been wondering, “How do we top that?”

That was after they sent shock waves through the MIAA Div. 2 state bracket with a first round, 67-56 road win over 5th-ranked Pope Francis Prep on Friday night.

This morning, the Warriors might be asking themselves the same question.

Wakefield, playing against a talented 12th-ranked Titan team in front of a standing room only crowd at Pembroke High, certainly topped their first round win with a hard-earned 59-50 victory, punching their ticket to the state quarterfinals, a round that would previously be considered the sectional finals.

That’s a round Wakefield hasn’t reached in a decade, since Brad Simpson’s 2012 team, led by a freshman who currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets (Bruce Brown) made it to the North Finals against Brighton.

First-year head coach Colin Halpin certainly has his Warriors believing they can make it even further.

“I’m just so happy for the guys,” said Halpin. “I’ve just preached, ‘Continue to work. Trust the work you put in all season.’ They did that and it’s paying off for them so I’m just happy for our guys, it’s great.”

In the scoring department, the Warriors were led by junior Ethan Margolis (19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists).

In the hustle department, they were led by senior Matt Sellers (8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists).

 

 

In the defense department, they were led by senior captain Jeff DiFazio (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks) who had multiple clutch blocks and often took on the challenge of bodying up Pembroke’s talented and physical big man, Brady Spencer.

Of course, here’s the kicker and the key to state tournament success: every Warrior does all of those things at a high level; especially the hustling part.

As the team commemorated their win with a jubilant and plenty loud Wakefield faithful who made the trip down 93 South in rush hour, their jerseys drenched in sweat, celebrating on pure adrenaline alone, it was clear they left it all on the court.

“You just gotta lay it on the line every play because it could be your last,” summed up Sellers afterwards, the famous Warrior hard hat, which is given to Wakefield’s version of their player of the game, serving the senior well in protection from all the high-fives and hugs.

Of course, they had to leave it all out there for a game that featured 10 lead changes and six ties. Through each momentum swing, in an environment that was no doubt the toughest they’ve experienced, the Warriors never flinched, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot and battling on the defensive end to finally earn a victory that was surely an instant classic.

Wakefield’s mettle was tested throughout, none more-so than in the 4th quarter when Pembroke’s Devanti Perry connected on his fourth and-one of the game, followed closely by an and-one from Spencer.

With the Titans up 50-47 with 2:40 left and the gymnasium absolutely shaking, it finally, after 29 minutes of grit and grind, felt like the Warriors might come up short.

Instead, they went on a 12-0 run.

Margolis, also known around this time of year as “Playoff E,” started it up with a free throw line jumper. He hit three 3-pointers on the day but this two may have been the most important.

“Playoff E’s always clutch,” said Halpin.

As the defense went to work for the final two minutes, Sellers reclaimed the lead for good at 51-50 with an acrobatic scoop layup to avoid multiple shot blockers.

DiFazio, who also had three of Wakefield’s nine 3-pointers on the night, scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including a drive and two that created a 53-50 lead and forced a timeout.

After Berry finally missed at the hoop, Sellers grabbed the rebound and went to the line for a 1-and-1. He barely gave the fans a chance to get him rattled, calmly knocking down the front end and hitting the second for a five-point lead. The Warriors went 6-for-6 from the stripe during their 12-0 run to seal the game, none bigger than those two from Sellers.

“He’s unbelievable, I love him,” said Halpin of Sellers. “We are going to miss him next year so much. He’s the unsung hero, he always brings it, he gets the guys going in the huddle, he’s vocal, he’s like having another coach on the floor.”

“All my brothers have my back and they were keeping me up the whole game,” said Sellers about coming up big in clutch time. “You just gotta keep working hard.”

That working hard thing is probably the main point Halpin has driven home all season in his first at the helm. It can be applied to almost anything in basketball to setting screens, cutting hard, rotating and closing out defensively, boxing out and quite literally a hundred more. It can also be simplified: when in doubt, go all out.

The amount of those plays and extra efforts last night is impossible to summate, although the most exciting to the common, hustle-play fan was early in the 4th with Wakefield down 44-42. Sellers grabbed an offensive rebound and had it stripped but dove on the floor to get it back as junior Mike Wilkinson (11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assist) also joined in the affray. Sellers somehow tipped it to Wilkinson who covered it up as Halpin and assistant coach Tom Leahy shouted for a timeout that Wakefield got and celebrated. It felt like a statement on who wanted it more.

Of course, it was anyone’s game throughout. The Warriors were up 13-9 after one quarter and down 26-22 at halftime.

Wakefield came back to win the wild 3rd quarter, 20-16, making it 42-42 after three. DiFazio, who was guarded closely in the first half, got loose for two triples in the frame, both reclaiming leads for the Warriors. Wilkinson hit a clutch 3 to tie it 40-40. Earlier, facing their largest deficit of the night with the score at 31-24, “Playoff E” connected on a long 3 to settle the nerves. It was a perfect example of the type of team effort it takes to win on this stage.

“It was a whole team effort,” agreed Halpin. “Jeff (DiFazio) was great, he stayed patient, made some big shots in the second half. Mike Wilkinson hit a big pull up, Andrew (Quinn, 6 points) and Sean (Russell) brought it like they always do. De’Ari (Burton) went in there and gave us a couple minutes, (Ian) Dixon got a bucket.”

The Wilkinson pull-up Halpin was referring to came in the 4th with the Warriors down 47-45. It was an elbow jumper that the Titans guarded well and often forced Wilkinson to pass out of, but this time the junior got the shot off which is always a good thing for Wakefield as it swished through to tie it once more.

All of these clutch shots silenced a crowd and especially a student section who was incredibly loud all night.

“This was awesome,” said Halpin. “We came 45 minutes before the game and they already had a full student section chirping our guys. They said ‘coach, they’re already out there yelling at us.’ I said, ‘this is great, this is what high school sports is about.’ You gotta give them (Pembroke fans) credit they showed up, they were respectful but chanted hard – you can’t beat this.”

Through every twist and turn, Wakefield was ready.

“That’s a tribute to our league,” said Halpin. ‘I think the Middlesex League prepares us really well for these situations. We’ve kind of been in every type of game, high scoring, low-scoring games, rock fights, zones, mans so I really think we’ve seen about everything you can throw at us.”

What the 12th-ranked Sailors of Scituate will try to net the Warriors in is anyone’s guess. Wakefield will worry about that tonight and tomorrow. For now, they will celebrate one of the best state tournament runs in program history.

“I’ll tell the guys, ‘enjoy it tonight, we got practice at 6:30 tomorrow. It’s back to work,’” said Halpin. “We’re not gonna change the things that we do now, it’s just focus on things we need to tweak and get better at.”

“We just gotta stay by each other’s side when it get’s tough,” said Sellers when looking forward to the next round where Wakefield will once again try to top an exciting victory.

It’s certainly served the Warriors well so far.

Wakefield travels to Scituate High on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

 

A full story of Wakefield’s victory over Pope Francis will appear in Friday’s sports section.