Sports

Foxborough Boys' Basketball Team Qualifies For Tourney

Warriors earn a Division 3 spot with win over Canton on the road..

 It has been a tough season for both the Canton and Foxboro boys’ basketball teams.

Entering Friday night’s game, between the two Hockomock League foes, The Bulldogs only league victory was at Foxboro, while the Warriors were yet to win a league game in nine attempts.

In a contest decided in the final two minutes, Foxboro got revenge with a 54-51 victory over Canton, the Bulldogs' fifth consecutive (league) defeat. Both teams are now 1-9 in the league and 1-4 in the Davenport (small schools) Division. The silver lining for both teams is although Canton (4-10 overall) and Foxboro (3-11 overall) have losing records, their record against Division-3 opponents is .500 or above which allows both teams to qualify for the Division-3 South Sectional post-season tournament.

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Foxboro got off to a quick start, jumping out to a 15-4 advantage. Nick Couroupacis, a junior (16 points), sophomore Josh Patkin (14 points), junior Jeff McPherson (five points and nine rebounds) and seniors Jimmy Morse and Tom Proccacini (seven rebounds each) combined great rebounding with accurate shooting for the early lead.

“It was good to get off to a good start, but when we lost the lead in the final quarter and then showed composure and character to come back and win it on the road, was a sign that we may finally be headed in the right direction, after losing so many the same way,” said Foxboro coach C.J. Neely. “After Jimmy (Morse) fouled out, we needed other people to step it up and everyone did.”

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To make matters worse, in the early-going for the Bulldogs, junior Colby Gavigan (16 points and six rebounds) was forced to play with three fouls, senior forward Dominique Purvis was feeling under the weather and leading scorer Joe McCabe (10 points and five rebounds)) faced a double-team situation all night. The Bulldogs also lost senior starter Michael Charles, and his aggressive defense, when he took a charge and suffered what was thought to be a broken nose.

Canton did battle back, all game long, and scored the final six points of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 15-10, entering the second quarter. Gavigan, a tireless and hard-working guard, had six points in the second quarter to help cut the Foxboro lead to 24-22 at halftime.

Foxboro outscored Canton, 14-11, in the third quarter to take a 38-33 lead into the final quarter. Couroupacis connected on a three-point shot, to open the quarter, to increase the Warriors’ lead to 41-33.

Canton would make a run paced by the sensational three-point shooting from junior Anthony Bires. Bires was the game’s leading scorer with 18 points, on six three-point shots, four in the final quarter. The shooting of Bires helped Canton gain its first lead of the game, 46-45, and after Gavigan followed up his own missed free throw with an offensive rebound and made basket, Canton led 48-45 with three minutes left, and Foxboro’s Morse fouled out, on the play.

Misfortune then followed the Bulldogs, as the team missed eight straight free throws allowing Foxboro to go on a 8-0 run, to take a 53-48 advantage into the final minute of the game.

Canton would not give up as Bires hit another three-point shot to cut the deficit to 53-51, with five seconds remaining. Canton then fouled Patkin, but after only two seconds remained. Patkin made the first free throw and missed the second, keeping it at a one possession game, 54-51, but Canton had no time outs, and a last second full court shot fell way short, leaving Canton with another bitter defeat.

“We battled back the whole game and finally took the lead, only to miss a layup, take a bad three-point shot, commit a needless foul way away from the basket and miss seven free throws in the final three minutes, to give the game right back to Foxboro,” said Canton coach Mike Devoll.

Canton is a stretch of three games in four days, with a makeup game at Sharon on Sunday at 2 p.m. and a Monday home game at 5 p.m. against Southeastern.

Foxboro  15  9  14  16  - 54

Canton    10 12  11 18  - 51


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