On Tuesday March 12, the Abington Green Wave Boys Basketball Team took a trip down to the TD Garden to play in the MIAA D4 South State Semi Finals against Pope John XXIII High School.

Green Wave fans stepped up their game in the fan section, bringing 3 buses of students, some with free tickets funded by generous people from Abington. Junior Andrew Roy said “the fan bus was great. Everyone got on the bus quickly and everyone was super excited for the game.”

This was the first time in 10 years that the Green Wave made it to the Semi Finals at the TD garden. The last Green Wave basketball team to play in the semi finals in the Garden was the one with current Green Wave Assistant Coach Chris Tighe, a 2009 graduate of Abington.

Tighe, reflecting on that said, “It’s something clearly not everyone gets to do. What makes it great is the people you do it with. Ten years later I’m still close friends with everyone from that team.” He went on to say that “I’m sure after this season I’ll be close with these kids for the rest of their lives as well.”

Tighe added that “as a coach it’s great to see all the hard work individuals put into their game and have it pay off when the team comes together as one.” Like last night.

The boys battled through the game going into half with a score of Pope John 30 and Abington 29, and then put up a tough second-half battle, with two clutch shots from sophomore Matty Maguire and junior Captain Will Klein.

Within the final minutes of the game, the Green Wave was down by 9. Although they trailed behind they didn’t give up. Klein hit the winning shot with a 1.5 seconds left on a corner 3-pointer off an amazing pass from Maguire to seal the game win and advance the team to the State Finals for the Championship in Worcester this Saturday. Final score 72-71 Abington. Maguire scored 17 points in the game and senior sensation, Captain Bryson Andrew scored 30 points.

Best of luck to the Green Wave for the next game on Saturday!