Warriors 7th Graders Win Two, Advance to Final

(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the Coaches and administration of the Wamesit Warriors basketball program.)

Warriors 7th       51         Reading   35

After a first round blowout, the wariors faced Reading in the second round
of the Eastern Hoops playoffs.  The Warriors started the game off a little
rough and Reading was able to keep pace.

After a quick first half timeout, the Warriors came back and started to play their game running the floor with Ryan Briggs, Ryan Bain and Nick Dunlap feeding the ball inside to a tough Connor MacLean and Justin Derrah.  The defense held Reading to just 7 points in the last 8 minutes of the half and The Warriors led 27 to 17.  Derrah took advantage and powered his way to the glass all game scoring 20 points.

Nick Dunlap came off the bench and sparked the offense with 10 of his own. Brady Rodgers and Josh Asselin held the Reading gaurds off and made it very difficult for them to get off a good pass.  The Warriors held Reading to only 18 second half points.  Also scoring for the warriors were Theriault (4), Bain (2), Briggs (7), Rodgers (2), MacLean (2), Vonkahle (3) and White (1).

Warriors 7th  45           Saugus     40

The Warriors pulled off a tough win the last time these two teams met
without their star center Justin Derrah and forward Connor MacLean. With
both back for this game, the Warriors felt confident that they had the
advantage.  But Saugus would dash those hopes and after a sloppy and long
first half, the warriors found themselves down 22 to 14.

The first half consisted of Saugus fast breaks and power rebounding.  The warriors managed to run a nice hitch play to catch the Saugus team of gaurd and set up Derrah for a nice 3 pointer from the top of the key to give the Warriors a little
boost before the half ended.

The second half was a different story, the Warriors came out fast and furious and pounded the ball in to Derrah time and time again and really frustrated the Saugus big men who got in foul trouble early. With 8 minutes left in the second half, the Warriors took their first lead.  Ryan Briggs and Brady Rodgers played tough at the top and created 8 steals which resulted in baskets.  Josh Asselin and Andrew White subbed in and out for the last 2 minutes confusing the Saugus players.

Nick Dunlap helped control the ball down the court on offense. But the game would go to Derrah who had 25 points and 12 rebounds and played the toughest game of the season when it was most needed.  After a couple of back breaking 3-pointers from Saugus, the Warriors were up by 2 with 16 seconds remaining,
when Ryan Bain noticed Jack Therriault breaking down the court.

Therriault drove to the basket scoring, taking the foul and hitting the free throw to
cap the game off.  Second half defense and smart ball movement made this the best comeback of the year for this Warrior team.  Scoring for the Warriors were Theriault (3), Bain (5), Briggs (7), MacLean (4) and Vonkahle (1).  The Warriors will play in the Champioship game against Peabody on Tuesday night at Saugus High School.