By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The varsity boys basketball teams from Westwood High School and Cambridge Rindge & Latin put on a show in a raucous Coccoluto Gymnasium on Wednesday night. Both teams worked hard to erase big deficits, but it was the Falcons who held on at home to send the Wolverines back to Westwood with a 64-59 loss.
Westwood wasted no time enforcing their offensive game plan in enemy territory. In the opening minutes of the first quarter, Vic Ganson drove to the baseline and scored to extend their lead to 7-0. Slowly but surely, however, the Falcons went to work, chipping away at the Westwood lead.
With 30 seconds to play, they pulled within one, cutting the deficit to 12-11. At the buzzer, Rindge & Latin flipped the scoreboard for the first time, taking a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.
In the second, Westwood senior Andrew Weeman went to work, scoring back to back buckets to put the Wolverines up 18-13. The Falcons, though, remained consistent, scoring five straight to knot the game at 18 all.
True to the fashion of the first 12 minutes of the half, the final four minutes saw an 11-2 run for Westwood immediately countered by a 9-0 Rindge & Latin run. Once again, it was the Falcons knocking down a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 29 heading into the half.
Midway through the third, Westwood’s leading scorer Robert Liriano-Alejandro got three the easy way and the hard way, knocking down an outside shot before converting an and-one opportunity to complete the 6-0 run.
To finish off the third and open the fourth, the two teams traded the lead 10 times without either side leading by more than a point. A missed free throw ended the call and response, keeping the game tied at 47 with under five minutes to play.
A 10-2 run for Rindge & Latin in the driver’s seat with just over a minute remaining on the clock, leading 57-49. True to form, the Wolverines did not go down without a fight. Liriano-Alejandro and Eli Ifrah combined to convert four straight free throws, cutting the deficit to 61-57. After Rindge & Latin missed a free throw of their own, Amari Ashley cleaned up the glass to pull within three.
The last word went to the Falcons who scored a late basket to ice the 64-59 win on their homecourt.
