By TYM BROWN
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High boys’ basketball team began their four-game home stand to end the year with a win over a D1 opponent in the Brookline Warriors last Thursday night. This game was the day after Valentines Day and clearly Wakefield had no love to spare for their opponents as they blew out the visitors by 14 points. This was largely in part to a fourth quarter offensive surge led by Jackson McDermott and Jack Millward.
McDermott tied his career high for points in a game with 19. He was guarded closely by 6’10” Alan Shi all game, but relentlessly attacked the basket despite his defender’s size advantage.
“I heard a lot about this kid being one of the biggest kids in the league and one of the toughest kids,” said the senior captain. “I attacked him; he couldn’t stay in front of me so I got to the rim and hit my free throws after that.”
Shi definitely made his impact throughout the game and was a tough matchup for Wakefield. He proved to be a problem on his first basket of the game as he was double teamed in the post, yet still turned and finished at the rim like there was no defense present. Senior captain De’Ari Burton hit a smooth 3-pointer from the left corner in response to add on to his steal and score that preluded Shi’s bucket. Brookline junior Seth Thompson hit a 3 to tie the game, but McDermott came right back with a mid-range pull-up that showed he was comfortable creating shots for himself. Senior captain Connor Mauriot tacked on another triple for Wakefield to cash in some second chance points on the next possession.
Brookline was ready to fight offensively though as they pounded the paint for the remaining four minutes of the first quarter. Shi dominated on the offensive glass and capitalized on second chances twice as his other teammates benefited from the attention drawn to him. With defenders focused on Shi, junior Aaron Viola was left alone to pull Brookline ahead towards the end of the quarter. Thankfully, Burton had kept pace with Brookline, giving Wakefield an opportunity to take the lead to end the first. McDermott took charge of this chance as he stayed with his initial miss and beat the buzzer with the follow, giving his team a 16-15 lead after quarter one.
Millward connected with Burton on a backdoor cut to start the second quarter as Burton switched hands mid-air for the finish. Matt Beaver added on as he fired from deep for his first points of the game, putting the Wakefield lead at it’s highest with six. Shi would not let his squad continue to fall behind though as he got back-to-back baskets on put-backs, garnering four offensive rebounds on two trips up the floor. A Wakefield player was given a tech for arguing a travel call on the other end, giving Caleb Haynes two free throws to tie the game for Brookline at 21 a piece. Millward then appeared in the scoring column as he glided across the paint with a hooking layup to retake the lead. Then the sophomore guard intercepted a pass on the defensive end, leading to another triple being stuck by Beaver, allowing for a favorable “Beav!” callout from the Red Sea as he jogged back to the other end.
Shi went back to business as he continued make a living off of putting back his teammates’ misses. He spaced out on the other end though as he left McDermott unguarded from deep, but refocused with a spinning finish in the lane to respond. A trade of a mid-range from the lone Brookline senior Chris Sillice and a layup from Millward left Wakefield leading 31-27 at half with no strong momentum in favor of either side.
Seth Thompson opened up the second half scoring as Sillice found him on a cut to the basket, followed by an elegant spinning fadeaway on the right block from Shi to knot the score at 31.
After a basket from Millward and another response from Shi, Wakefield pulled ahead as Mauriot drew pressure away from Jackson Fitzpatrick in the paint who he dished to for an easy two. The home team struck again the next time up the floor as Millward relayed a pass back to Beaver who faded to the perimeter after setting a screen and hit another deep ball in a crucial spot for Wakefield. Shi made sure this wouldn’t start any momentum for his opposition though as he threw down a two-handed slam that surely fired up his teammates. Aaron Viola came crashing on the offense glass a few possessions later to cut the deficit to one for Brookline as Wakefield went on a cold shooting streak to end the third quarter.
McDermott went right at Shi to get the offense flowing again, much to the liking of the home bench as they appreciated the physicality of the bucket. McDermott and Shi traded a pair of free throws to leave the Wakefield advantage at three heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was coming up all Millward from the first possession as he struck his first 3-pointer of the game when the defense vacated him from deep. Millward up to this point had only hit three of the 11 shots he took in the game so the Brookline defense wasn’t taking him seriously, but that would be their downfall. “I didn’t have a ton of energy coming into this game, my shot wasn’t falling,” said the sophomore guard. “Coming into the fourth quarter, I just knew this was a must win game for us.”
Millward got aggressive going to the hoop as he finished through a foul by Shi, pushing the Wakefield lead to an eight-point gap. The next time up the floor, McDermott attacked Shi as well as the stalky center came out to mid court to pressure him. The senior forward crossed and blew past his defender as he was fouled from behind while finishing at the rack and converting the and-one. Momentum was now undoubtedly in Wakefield’s favor, but this only became more apparent as Millward slipped defenders off with a hesitation dribble going to the hoop and then drew a charge on Shi on the defensive end. The star guard doubled down on this sequence when he got another layup as he swerved through two defenders and then drew a second charge, this time on Chris Sillice.
By now, it seemed all hope had evaporated for Brookline as the Wakefield lead had rapidly expanded to 16 points with just over four minutes left in the game. Just for good measure, McDermott slid his way to the hoop again, converting a lefty and-one over Shi and fouling him out of the game. With no interior defensive threat, Millward continued his onslaught on the paint without worry. Brookline still had some fight in them as they stormed back to cut the Wakefield lead to seven after it was previously 17. This was largely due to passing mistakes and self-induced turnovers by Wakefield. As time began to run out, Brookline had to foul to conserve it, leading the home team to expand the lead to double digits again with free throws and seal the game worry-free.
Millward finished with 15 points in the fourth quarter and hit seven of his eight shot attempts to close out the game.
With this win in the books, Wakefield sits at 11-6 heading into the final week of the regular season. The Warriors will play a grueling three games in just four days to close out the year, the only benefit being that all three of those games will be at home.
The first will be against Canton tonight at 5 p.m. The second will be against Wilmington on Tuesday for senior night at 7 p.m. and the final game of the regular season will be against Reading on Thursday night at 5 p.m. Wakefield currently holds the 27 seed in the MIAA D2 tournament and have an outside chance of moving up to the 16 seed which would guarantee them one home playoff game.