Wareham dominant in Div. 4 state title game
Vikings beat Springfield International 66-40
In Sunday’s Div. 4 boys basketball state final, Wareham was everywhere it wanted to be, from start to finish, against Springfield International Charter.
The Vikings (22-3) never trailed, dominating on offense, defense, and the boards throughout a 66-40 victory.
“Their energy and effort, they just fly around on defense,” Wareham coach Steve Faniel said. “But really our key for today was rebounding. (Springfield) had a big size advantage. … we haven’t had a problem getting stops and getting people to miss shots all season long. We have had a problem sometimes rebounding and getting out on the break. The most important part of our defense was getting on the glass.”
No one for Wareham was bigger than junior Antoine Crosson, who pulled down 16 rebounds and scored 14 points. The leading scorer was Ajay Lopes, with 20 points. Aaron Cote added eight points, and Jayce Travers had six points on two 3-pointers.
Springfield (23-3) was led by Kenny Rogers with 12 points, and London Denson with 11.
But the Bulldogs never got in a rhythm on offense, and that was due to the swarming Wareham defense.
“They’re not used to pressure,” Lopes said. “We created turnovers that turned into fast breaks, so we got our fast break going.”
In the fourth, Wareham got two more baskets from Crosson, plus a Diego Mello layup as the Vikings pushed their lead to 55-33.
Faniel pulled his starters and regular rotation members with two minutes left, and reserve Taj Lewin-Pina’s 3-pointer lit up the crowd and signaled the end of the line.
“They’ve been dreaming about this since the fourth grade,” Faniel said. “They’ve been playing together since fourth grade. … I thought last year, the experience they had going to the Elite Eight, that hardened them, gave them the experience they needed to make this run this year.”
And don’t think it ends this season. Wareham had just one senior on this year’s team. Getting back to a state final is not out of the question.