By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Boys’ basketball has been fearless and passionate all season long. The Timberwolves represented all their hard work on Monday evening, March 6th. The boys tipped off against the Westwood Wolverines in the Sweet 16 round of playoffs, where they dropped to Westwood in the final seconds of the competition with a 62-57 final score.
Westwood and Walpole both came out in high gear, with Walpole’s gymnasium full of fans of both the visitors and the home team. Feeding off the energy of the fans, the boys were neck and neck throughout the entire match-up. It was a nail-biting game, as Walpole held the lead for the first three quarters. Headed into the fourth, Walpole took lead by one point, 38-37, and Westwood hunkered in on the offensive boards to get more baskets. Walpole battled back with multiple scoring opportunities, but the ball would rim out of the net, not gaining any points for the Timberwolves.
With a three-point difference in the competition with 17 seconds left of the fourth, Westwood took control of Walpole by two free throws. Walpole fought hard down to the very last second of the competition just as they had all season long. Walpole’s top leading scorers were James Gaba who pocketed 19 points, Sean O’Brien had 12 points, Trey Corbean snuck in 8 points, Peter Weiand had 7 points, and Emmett King closed with 5 points.
Head coach Jenna Galster was saddened to say goodbye to the 2022-2023 season, but is proud of the tenacity the boys have brought to the season this year.
“It was a pleasure to coach this team, it was the last game for the seniors on this court. The seniors left everything they had on the court and that is all I can ask for. Their unselfish team play is just amazing. When they are out there having fun, it is palpable, it was just an amazing season,” said Galster.
Walpole’s co-captains Sean O’Brien and Trey Corbean were selected as Bay State All-Stars alongside them, Emmett King was named to be the Bay States Honorable Mention All-Star as well!
