Needham and Xaverian Advance to the Championship

Last night’s Varsity Fall League action started out hot with a one point victory by Wellesley over Westwood (69-68), clinched by hitting the game winning free throw with no time on the clock.  With the victory, Wellesley clinches the 5th place spot in the league.

Up next were the 2 semi-final matchups.  First, the #1 seed Needham took care of business with a 9 point victory over the #4 seed Walpole (49-40) to advance to the finals.  On the other end of the bracket, the higher seed also prevailed with the #2 seed Xaverian pulling away in the last few minutes to secure an 8 point win (51-43) over the #3 seed Norwood.  

The final night of the 2015 Westwood Varsity Fall League will take place this Tuesday November 17th at Walpole High School.  The night will start with 2 consolation matches.  First, Norwood will take on Westwood at 6pm.  Then Walpole takes on Wellesley at 7pm.  Finally, the fall league Championship will be up for grabs as Needham goes for their 2nd straight league championship (they were also the 2015 Westwood Varsity Spring League Champs) against a very strong Xaverian team that has won the previous 2 matchups between the 2 teams.  

Fall AAU Season Recap

Our 2015 Fall AAU season came to a close for our 5 teams.  Some highlights of the season include our 18U – WHS and 14U – O’Hara teams both going undefeated in the Mass Premier Fall Classic and winning the Varsity and 8th grade championships.  17U – Harris had an undefeated day 1 in the New England Recruiting Report Hoop Festival before getting eliminated prior to advancing to the 11th grade quarterfinals.  They also finished 2nd place in the Mass Premier Halloween Bash.  16U – 10th went 2-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Zero Gravity Beast of the East tournament.  This team also finished 2nd place in the Mass Premier Halloween Bash.  Along with winning the Mass Premier Fall Classic 8th grade championship, 14U – O’Hara also had numerous 2nd place finishes, ending their first season as a team with an excellent 9-3 record.  For more information on the season, click HERE.

Norwood & Walpole advance, Westwood & Wellesley eliminated

In the opening night of the varsity league playoffs Norwood and Walpole were able to advance to the semi finals.  First, Norwood played one of their best games of the season and beat Wellesley 64-40 in their quarterfinal matchup.  Wellesley is now eliminated from championship contention and Norwood now moves on to play the #2 seed Xaverian next Thursday night at 8pm for the semi-finals.  

In the second quarter-final matchup, Walpole and Westwood battled out a low scoring game with Walpole pulling away at the end from a 6 point, 44-38 victory.  This eliminates Westwood from championship contention and advances Walpole to take on the #1 seed Needham next Thursday at 7pm in the semi-finals.  

The best game of the night ended up being the non-elimination matchup between the top 2 seeds, Needham and Xaverian.  After a closely fought, back and forth game; Xaverian came out of a timeout down 2 points, with the ball and 12 seconds left in the game and nailed a 3 pointer to take a one point lead with just seconds left in the game.  This gave Xaverian the 1 point, 57-56 victory over Needham.  Both teams will look to win their semi-final matchups next week for a possible rematch for the championship.  

The schedule for next Thursday (11/12/15) at Walpole High School is:

  • 6pm – Westwood vs. Wellesley     (consolation game)
  • 7pm – Needham vs. Walpple     (semi-finals)
  • 8pm – Xaverian vs. Norwood     (semi-finals)

Walpole and L-S Advance to the JV Fall Championship

The 2 semi-final matchups for the JV Fall league took place this past Tuesday, November 3rd at Walpole High School.  In the first game, Walpole gutted out a close defensive battling, pulling away at the end for a 12 point victory over Westwood-White.  In the second matchup, Lincoln-Sudbury came out with their best performance of the season, with a 24 point win over Westwood-Green.  The final night of the 2015 JV Fall League will take place next Tuesday (November 10th) at Walpole High School with Westwood-White and Westwood-Green playing in the 3rd place game at 7pm and the Walpole vs. Lincoln-Sudbury matchup for the championship at 8pm. 

 

Tonight (November 5th) is the opening night of the Varsity Fall League playoffs at Walpole High School.  The action will feature a battle of the top 2 seeds, Xaverian vs. Needham at 6pm and 2 quarterfinal elimination matchups for the later games.  At 7pm, the #3 seed Norwood takes on the #6 seed Wellesley and at 8pm the #4 seed Walpole takes on the #5 seed Westwood.  

NESB grabs 2 Championships over the Weekend!

This past weekend, NESB had 2 of our teams entered into the Mass Premier Fall Classic tournament, and both went undefeated, securing 2 championships!

First was our 18U team, which was entered into the Varsity division of the tournament.  They started Saturday off with a 5 point, overtime victory over WBC (72-67) and followed it up with a 12 point (63-51) win over Team Mass.  On Sunday, even though missing 6 players, pulled off a dominant 47 point victory over MPC - Campbell (90-43) to finish off the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record and being the only varsity team in the tournament to remain undefeated, securing their championship.

Our other team in the tournament was our 14U - O'Hara team, who was entered into the 8th grade division in a pool of 6 teams.  They began the weekend with a close 2 point victory over PMBC (64-62).  Their next game was a 14 point win over MPC - Schustek (52-38).  Our boys finished off their championship run with a huge 29 point win over MPC - Adams (54-25) to cap off their first place finish out of the 6 team 8th grade pool. 

We are very proud of our guys and hope for continued success and development from them and all of our teams in the final few weeks of the Fall AAU season. 

NESB Kicks Off the Fall Tournament Season this Weekend

NESB kicks off he 2015 Fall tournament season this weekend with the 17U (11th) grade NESB - Harris team playing in the Zero Gravity Fall Brawl Tournament.  As of right now, our scheduled games are at 8am and 10am this Saturday (October 3rd) at the University Sports Complex in Hanover, then at 12pm on Sunday (October 4th) at the University Sports Complex.  For more info on this team, check out there page by clicking HERE. 

Needham wins the 2015 Spring League Championship

Needham High School capped off a great Spring League season with a dramatic double overtime victory with a 59 to 57 victory over Franklin High School.  Down 1 point with only a few seconds to go, Needham hit a huge 3 pointer for the win.  It was an exciting finish to a great season.  All six schools in the league (Needham, Franklin, Westwood, Foxboro, Brookline, and Walpole) were terrific participants in the league providing fun, competitive games.   For all of the results from the season, click HERE.

Spring AAU Season ends with a Win

Yesterday at the Mass Premier Spring Wrap-Up tournament in Foxboro, 16U ended the 2015 spring season on a high note edging out the Rhode Island Quahogs for a close victory.  It was a great team effort with contributions from everyone who played, highlighted by a couple clutch shots late in the game by Jordan Washburn to regain the lead. 

This was a very fun an exciting first season as a program with a lot of close and hard fought games including some huge victories.  We would love to thank everyone who was a part of the program this season and look forward to the future.  We will be having teams playing in the Fall 2015 season starting in August.  As we get closer to that time, we will be posting tryout information, so keep checking back to the website for that.  In the meantime, eel free to email us at NESpartanBasketball@gmail.com with any questions or concerns.