Green Wave Boys Basketball Heads Back to Worcester
Abington Hopes for a State Championship
March 12, 2020
[Update: On Thursday, March 12, The State Championship has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Congratulations to the Green Wave team on a thrilling and memorable season]
On Saturday, March 7, 2020, The Abington Varsity Boys’ Basketball team played Cape Cod Academy (CCA) at Taunton High School for the Division 4 South Championship at 3:15 pm. Fans were told to wear white to support the Green Wave because the Abington was wearing their game white jerseys.
The Green Wave and Cape Cod Academy boys both played a hard-fought game, but Abington beat Cape Cod Academy, 85-81.
Green Wave leading scores were junior Matty Maguire with a big 24 points and 13 rebounds, followed by two sophomore standouts Antwonne Graham Jr. with 22 points and 10 assists and Tommy Fanara with 21 points.
The senior captains held it down (Will Klein with 10 points and the big guy Cam Curney with 7 points and 14 rebounds).
In the fourth quarter of the game it was a back-and-forth, but Abington came out on top with the win. They would seal the deal for the South Championship when, with 4.5 seconds left in the game, Cape Cod Academy forced a foul to stop the clock for two clutch free-throws from Graham.
Graham was asked how it felt sinking those two free throws. “I just had to sink them, I asked coach if we wanted to miss and he said no make them so then i did and we hung on to a close one.”
I did not think I would get hot that quickly because of my rough first half.
— Matty Maguire
The win over CCA sent the Green Wave to the State Semi-finals, held Tuesday, March 10, at the TD garden. They faced Snowden Cougers at 3:45 pm.
The Green Wave went into this game wanting to go back to the State Championship game. Last year they lost against Worcester Tech.
The Green Wave boys held together a great lead early in the first quarter with a couple steals from junior Maguire and sophomores Drew Donovan and Graham. This turned into some buckets from Graham, Maguire and Curney. Donovan said, “I think we really prepared for these game and came out knowing what we were doing. We practiced that defense all week and had it ready for the games.”
The Green Wave ended the first half of the game with a great layup off the glass from Maguire and a lead of 22-16.
Abington took control of the game in the third by draining a lot of threes from Maguire and senior captain Colby Augusta. This took it to the end of the third quarter with a score of Abington 47 and Snowden 30.
Maguire said,“My mindset was I would that I would do anything to help the team get back to the state championship game again and I was able to score a few points. I did not think I would get hot that quickly because of my rough first half.”
Snowden tried to get back into the game in the fourth quarter, but Abington’s defense was lockdown and they were consistent in the rebound chart which made a big difference in their game. Curney said, “We played some good defense. Everyone was playing hard, man. That’s just how we play as a team, that’s all.”
The final score of the Garden party was Abington over Snowden, 67 to 51.
Maguire donned over the competition with a big 25 points and he got hot early, Curney had another double-double with 13 points and he was the leading rebounder of the night with 15 rebounds and 5 blocks, Augusta followed with 9 and was hot behind the arc, sophomores Graham with 8 points and 8 assists and Fanara with 8 points followed.
The next game will be on Saturday, March 14 against Hopedale. The time and place of event will be announced Thursday morning. To stay posted follow @AbingtonAD on Twitter.
