Four high school takeaways as the boys' and girls' basketball fields are whittled down
1. Bulldogs still dancing
Between Thursday and Friday, 31 basketball teams advanced into the final four of their division, and 30 of those teams were seeded seventh or higher.
The only exception? The 20th-seeded Old Rochester boys, who took down fifth-seeded Greater Lawrence in the Division 3 quarterfinals behind 22 points from senior
Gavin Martin
, who was
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Old Rochester (14-9) is coming off a state finals appearance last year, when it fell, 61-40, to Charlestown. The Bulldogs'
Noah Fernandes
— who later played at Wichita State, UMass, and Rutgers — and coach
Steve Carvalho
led them past Hoosac Valley.
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We'll have at least one more double-digit seed in the boys' semifinals, with No. 19 Rockport and No. 11 Westport meeting in a Saturday quarterfinal (1 p.m.).
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Making history were Masconomet and Norwell, whose boys' basketball teams both became the first in program history to reach the state semifinals, while the Oliver Ames boys have advanced further than they have in 60 years, since claiming the 1965 Class C crown.
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So far, the only division to go to chalk is Division 1 girls, which has No. 1 Wachusett, No. 2 Bishop Feehan, No. 3 Springfield Central, and No. 4 Braintree still competing.
With two more teams to play on Saturday (St. Mary's boys, Hopedale girls), no No. 1 seed has lost through the first three rounds, although our first three No. 2 seeds Attleboro (D1 boys), Mansfield (D2 boys), Dartmouth (D2 girls) were bounced Friday.
3. Three stars
There were plenty to choose from, but we whittled it down to these three:
Bourne's
Mike Dankert
, the 6-foot-5-inch senior kept the second-seeded Canalmen cruising through the Division 4 bracket with 29 points and 16 rebounds in a 74-48 win over No. 23 O'Bryant. Bourne has now won its three playoff games by a combined score of 225-131, with none being decided by fewer than 26 points.
Newton North's
Teagan Swint
, the only MIAA boys' player to be McDonald's All-American nominee proved why with 25 points and five blocks, including 12 points in the fourth quarter as
Somerset Berkley's starters, who with the exception of Max Finlaw all put up impressive numbers in an 88-60 Division 2 quarterfinal win over Pope Francis. Junior
Colten Pacheco
(29 points, 7 rebounds), senior
Finn Bjork
(21 points, 12 rebounds), senior
Brendan McDonald
(20 points, 8 assists), and junior
Dom Taylor
(12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) all stuffed the stat sheet.
Also of note, Dartmouth senior
Kat Cheesebro
, who
3. Nightly scoring leaderboard
Colten Pacheco
, Somerset Berkley, 29
Tyler Vincent
, Hanover, 29
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Mike Dankert
, Bourne, 29
Ian Piper
, Holland, 26
Teagan Swint
, Newton North, 25
Mamadou Camara
, Malden Catholic, 25
Kat Cheesebro
, Dartmouth, 24
Gavin Martin
, Old Rochester, 22
Maddie Oliver
, Norwell, 22
Cole Craffey
, Oliver Ames, 21
Finn Bjork
, Somerset Berkley, 21
Brendan McDonald
, Somerset Berkley, 20
Abby Broderick
, Medfield, 20
Kailey Sullivan
, Foxborough, 20
4. Grappling with greatness
Saturday marks the start of the New England wrestling championships in Providence — Shawsheen senior Sid Tildsley is looking to break the state's all-time win record — and AJ Traub has you covered:
Brendan Kurie can be reached at
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