Westwood boys prolong the magic
Westwood has turned last year’s magical ride into season long success.
A year after making an unexpected run to the Div. 2 State Quarterfinals as the No. 29 seed, Westwood has flipped the script and is one of the teams to beat as the state tournament approaches. The Wolverines enter the final week of the regular season with a 17-4 record.
“Our expectations were high,” Westwood coach Ryan Douglass said. “We had sort of that magical run in the playoffs last year and so we came in with a good belief in ourselves.”
The Wolverines have used last year’s tournament run as a launching pad for this winter. Centered around a core of point guard Eli Ifrah and forwards Amari Ashley and Oliver Gannon, Westwood defeated No. 20 Walpole and No. 4 Shepherd Hill before falling six points shy of reaching the state semifinals.
Now that same core, coupled with sophomore Robert Liriano-Alejandro and wing Andy Weeman, have put the Wolverines in position to be the ones at the top of the state tournament bracket. Ifrah has been a constant at both ends serving as the team’s floor general. Ashley and Gannon allow the Wolverines to control the boards while Weeman is the team’s glue guy.
The game changer has been Liriano-Alejandro. After being on the junior varsity team as a freshman, he has turned into the team’s leading scorer and rebounder as a sophomore averaging 13.7 points and seven rebounds per night.
“The selflessness of this group is off the charts,” Douglass said. “Coming into it we were unsure of guys being able to adapt to certain roles. Once it happened quickly, however, we were able to hit our stride and work on marrying ourselves to success.”
On Wednesday, the Wolverines suffered a stinging loss in the TVL Large championship to Hopkinton in overtime. It’s the second consecutive year the Wolverines have seen a shot at the league championship slip out of its fingertips. Douglass’ group, however, has honed its focus on the state tournament with experience on the biggest stage already in its pocket.
“We put an emphasis on preparing for the state tourmament and then see where the chips will fall wherever they do,” Douglass said. “We want to be at home and have that advantage.”
Milestones
For the second time this winter, Weymouth etched a name into the record books. On Wednesday night, Megan Doyle scored 33 points including the 1,000th of her career to lead the Wildcats to a 68-58 win over Newton North. The Wildcats boys program had a 1,000 point scorer of their own earlier this year as Edric Louissaint reached the milestone on Jan. 30.
Randolph’s Kalon Jenkins announced on Wednesday he will be stepping down as the school’s boys basketball coach at the conclusion of the season. Jenkins, who has served as the program’s head coach since 2009, missed last season due to health reasons. Jenkins is one of the most respected members of the Massachusetts Basketball coaches Association and led the Blue Devils to a state championship in 2022.