Westwood Shocks Norton in D-3 South Tournament Win

The two times the Westwood Wolverines faced the Norton Lancers this season, both games resulted in double digit wins for the the Lancers.

Yet the third time was the charm for the Wolverines.

"We realized that there were things that we were doing that weren't good," Westwood head coach Steve St. Martin said, "so what we did was try to make those adjustment necessary to take away a stronger point."

Upsetting the Lancers, No. 11 Westwood defeated No. 6 Norton, 54-50, in the first round of the MIAA Divsion 3 South Sectional basketball tournament on Wednesday night.

Early on, the game acted as a contrast to the higher scoring games of the regular season. A defensively tight game led to a 9-9 game after the first quarter. The Wolverines almost went into the second with the lead but a quick basket by Colin Feeney with only seconds to go kept the game tied up after the opening eight minutes.

The Lancers pulled away in the second to build an eight point lead at the half. Led by Steve Burrill’s seven points in the second quarter, the game started to slowly go the Lancers’ way by halftime but they would not be prepared for a very unexpected third quarter.

Foul trouble in a tightly called game hurt the Lancers as they lost the lead to the Wolverines.

“We got into so much foul trouble. That was a big part of it,” Norton head coach Marc Liberatore said.

The Lancers lost both point guard Paul Murphy and Feeney in the third to foul trouble. Feeney was unable to show why he was one of the Tri-Valley League’s best scorers because of the Wolverines’ defensive effort and fouling out during the second half.

"We put a little bit of a rotation in there to try to help as much as possible, but we got calls on him (Feeney) early that allowed him to be taken out of the game and that helps you big time,” St. Martin said.

With less than 90 seconds to play, the Lancers held a 46-42 lead but a putback by Jonathan Allegrezza and a pair of free throws by Bo Berluti tied the game at 46 with less than a minute to play.

The Wolverines took the lead with 23 seconds to play after a pair of Mike Keane free throws. Another free throw from Joe Lally extended the lead to three after a Norton giveaway under the basket.

“We turned it over too much. That's a credit to their defense,” Liberatore said.

Down by three and with 22 seconds to play, the Lancers did the unthinkable and gave the ball away once again under the basket. Forced to foul, Lally once again was sent to the line and two free throw later the lead was five for Westwood.

“We worked on little tiny things that make big things happen,” St. Martin said. “It's pressing the ball out of bounds. It's making your guy try a way he doesn’t want to cut so when that happens and people have to react sometimes they turn the ball over.”

Burrill kept the Lancers’ tournament dreams alive after sinking three free throw to cut the lead to two with 17.5 seconds left. A five second violation on the Wolverines returned the ball to the Lancers with a chance to win the game.

While Burrill's three to win the game didn't fall, the Lancers were not done yet after a technical foul on Westwood gave the Lancers the ball back. After Burrill went one for two on the technical, the Lancers had to act fast to cut the four point lead.

With not enough time to take back the lead, the Lancers’ season ended with an upset to their TVL foe.

As he had all season, Burrill led the way for the Lancers with 24 points. Zach Ruby had nine points and 10 rebounds. Glenn Parsons led Westwood in scoring with 13 points and six rebounds. Lally had 12 points including six critical points from the free throw line in the final quarter. Keane had 10 points.

The Wolverines move on to the quarterfinals where they will face No. 3 Norwell. The Clippers defeated the Medway Mustangs, 59-52, to get to to the next round. At 18-2 in the regular season, the Clippers have been one of the best teams in Division 3 all season long.

“You can’t rest. We’re gonna enjoy this tonight and then go right back to work tomorrow because the next game is just as big as this one,” St. Martin said.

The Wolverines will travel to Norwell on March 3 with a 6 p.m. tipoff.