The Hoosac School Owls traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts the weekend of December 29 to take part in the 10th annual Buckingham, Browne & Nichols Knights invitational basketball tournament. The field was comprised of both large and small schools from the prestigious New England Prep School League.
Hoosac, by far the smallest of the tournaments participants, opened its action against host BB&N at 9 am on Saturday. Hoosac dressed just seven players for the tournament due to holiday travel conflicts for several of their players, but that proved to be enough as they defeated BB&N 57-45 in a hard fought opening game. Junior Benas Maslauskas and Freshman Unique McLean led the Owls in scoring with 16 points each while Charles Wingate ran the point position superbly and contributed 11 points in the win.
Game two was the semifinal of their bracket at 5 pm that same day. The Owls were ready to face off against the sharpshooting team from Providence Country Day. A win would send them to the championship game. Hoosac led by six at the half due in a large part to the outstanding play of Junior Gregg Braithwaite. Braithwaite cleaned up on the offensive boards keeping the game close for the Owls. Trailing by four with less than four minutes to play in the first half McLean took charge of the offense and scored at will on several dunks and a huge three-pointer. Junior Trevor Farrell hit one of his two three-pointers during that stretch to extend the Owls lead to six at the half. In the second half, the Owls came out on fire and outscored PCD 43-27 to take the win going away 76-54. McLean finished with 28 points followed by an impressive 20 points from Braithwaite.
On Sunday the Owls were able to get some much needed rest before the tip off of the championship at 1:30 pm. Their opponent for the game would be Noble & Greenbough School of Dedham, MA. Nobles earned their way into the championship game by defeating Bancroft School and the Pingree School decisively. Nobles presented some difficult match-ups for Hoosac so the Owls’ skill level and determination on the defensive end would be tested.
With McLean clearly in the Nobles defensive sights, the Owls would have to move the ball around to keep up. Wingate and McLean did a fine job of finding the open man off the dribble and allowing Hoosac to score some easy baskets early on in the game. At one point in the first half the Owls led 15-5, but a short bench and some tired legs allowed Nobles to pull within three at the half 25-22. The second half proved to be a thriller. Senior Captain Blair Manners, Hoosac’s 6’10” center, had three key offensive rebounds and put-backs to give the Owls some breathing room. However, Nobles fought back, and going into the final eight minutes, Hoosac had a slim lead of 39-38. Hoosac’s 2-3 zone defense anchored by Manners, Braithwaite and Junior Damani Guscott continued to stymie Nobles’ offense, and Hoosac outscored Nobles 16-11 in the final stanza to earn a hard fought victory 55-49. Head Coach Mike Foster said, “It was all about team defense today. We kept them off the boards the entire game. All seven guys played a big role in our victories this weekend, and I’m extremely proud of how our kids conducted themselves. They did Hoosac Proud!”
Charles Wingate led Hoosac’s scoring with 13 followed by McLean with 12 and Braithwaite with 11. Maslauskas and Manners each netted 8 while Guscott chipped in 3. Freshman Unique McLean was named the tournament MVP averaging 19 points a game.
The community to come to the Owls’ next home game this Saturday at 4 pm in the Hoosac School Gym. They will be playing Masters School.