GEORGETOWN — Embrace the choas, but don’t step over the line.
That basically became the motto for the Georgetown boys basketball team during Friday night’s Division 4 first round game. The No. 6 Royals take pride in playing physical, tough and with passion, and sometimes they don’t mind getting in your face about it.
But never in an “over-the-top”sort of way.
Again, it’s very much a controlled passion for the sport.
And when a team like visiting No. 27 High School of Commerce brings that same fire, the Royals know how to match that intensity without ultimately shooting themselves in the foot. … Plus it helps when you’re really good at basketball like the Royals are when they’re clicking.
Five players scored in double figures on Friday night, as Georgetown moved the ball brilliantly on offense to cruise to a playoff blowout, 98-65. A total of seven technical fouls were issued during the game (Red Raiders: 6, Royals: 1), and in one of the more wild first halfs you’ll see, both a HS of Commerce player, and its head coach, were ejected after consecutive techs.
“I was very pleased with our guys,” said Georgetown coach Josh Keilty. “I’ve never been a part of a half of basketball like that, and I was really proud of the way the guys kept it together and stayed disciplined.”
Really, at the end of the night, Georgetown (15-6) won by knockout.
Both Brady Kent (14 pts) and Brayan Perez (13 pts) opened the game with 3s, then buckets from Brendan Loewen, Aleks Dimov and Irvin Zapata (19 pts) helped the Royals build a 21-11 lead after the first quarter. The Red Raiders (8-14) did survive the opening onslaught on the road, and twice during the second quarter cut it to a five-point game.
But after Zapata drained a couple of 3s, that’s when the techs started to flow.
Zapata did his part and made a handful of free throws amid the choas, and another 3 from Kent followed by baskets from John Alantara (11 pts) and Perez had Georgetown up 47-25 at halftime.
“We always try to push first every game, and today we did that,” said Alcantara, one of the team’s seniors. “It was a very weird game, a lot of technical fouls, and I’m glad that we kept composure. We got one tech I think, but out of like 20 the whole game.”
At that point, the second half was merely a formality.
Jomar Terrero scored all 13 of his points after the break, and Jalen Andujar played well serving in extended minutes as the team’s point guard in the third quarter. That role normally belongs to Loewen, but Andujar took the reigns for a stretch, and was playing a nice two-man game on the high pick-and-roll with Aleks Dimov that led to easy layups. It was a 77-48 game after three quarters, and Ryan Skahan gave the team one final highlight when he dove on the floor and got the ball when the Red Raiders were still trying to roll it up the court to keep the clock stopped — while down 30 with a minute left.
The win also puts Georgetown into the Division 4 Round of 16 for the fourth straight year. So ever since the MIAA moved to the statewide format, the Royals have been one of the final 16 teams left in the division every winter.
“It’s a credit to the kids and how hard they’ve worked, how much they’ve committed, and how we’re able to coach them hard,” said Keilty. “They don’t have egos. We play a lot of guys, and for some teams that’s going to cuase a lot of friction. But these guys have checked their egos, and to the betterment of the team. It’s a great group.”
But the last two years, the “Sweet 16” has been the end of the road.
Georgetown hasn’t been able to get over the hump and into the quarterfinals, but belief is high that this year’s group is the one. The Royals will play No. 11 South Hadley for that right on Tuesday, with tipoff set for 6:30 p.m. from Whittier Tech.
“We have talent every year,” said Alcantara. “There’s a lot of kids who come through here with talent, and we have coaches who teach us how to play hard. We play man-to-man defense, that’s what it is over here. And I mean, the Sweet 16, we’re making it every year but we’re not making it past that. So we’re not really focused on that. We’re trying to keep going.”
GIRLS: 19-0 run puts Royals in driver’s seat
In true coach fashion, there was only one basket that Georgetown head man Tim Spinney cared about during the second quarter of Friday’s Division 4 first round game.
And spoiler, his team didn’t even score it.
But following a first quarter that saw the No. 11 Royals come out slow, and have a handful of careless turnovers that led to No. 22 Mashpee building a 12-7 lead, the team needed some sort of spark. Luckily, they wasted no time getting it as soon as the first-quarter break came to an end. Talya Mariani immediately drained two 3s, Avery Upite had a couple of steals and transition layups, and a Victoria Barbarick basket eventually capped a massive 19-0 run that completely shifted the game.
Georgetown basically cruised the rest of the way after that, and advanced to the Division 4 Round of 16 after handling Mashpee, 55-31. The Falcons would score just one bucket during that second quarter, on a Alanna McDonald 3 with just under two minutes left in the frame.
“I wish we didn’t give up that 3, because then it would have been a clean slate in the quarter,” said Spinney. “But it’s a game of runs, and we need that response at every point of the game. Right now, like I tell the girls, there’s 32 minutes for your season. You know, we can either extend our year or go home, and tonight they repsonded.”
After the run, it was a 26-15 game at halftime.
A lead that Georgetown (13-8) would quickly add to early in the third, thanks to a pair of 3s from Maddie Halmen. The sophomore Mariani would then hit another 3 and lead the way with 15 points, and Barbarick (14 pts) — a 7th-grader — further helped the Royals make it a 20-point game heading into the fourth. Upite would finish with 13 points, and Katie Davies didn’t have a big scoring day, but did record 7 rebounds and 5 blocks.
“Victoria Barbarick is a 7th-grader, she’s 13 years old, and I think she had 14 points tonight,” said Spinney. “Then Bryley Hodges is still 12 years old until the end of next month, and she hit a 3 tonight. They got tournament points, and there are seniors who can’t say that. So we’re proud of them, we continue to develop overall and as individuals, and we’ll move forward.”
Georgetown will now travel to play No. 6 Carver in the Round of 16 on Tuesday with a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
Georgetown 98, High School of Commerce 65
Division 4 First Round
HS of Commerce (65): Yahir Nieves 2-15-20, Brandon Smith 8-6-23, Angel Torres 1-0-3, Savlaugn Watkins 1-1-3, J. Collins 2-0-4, Nazic Maisonet 2-1-5, Chase Johnson 1-1-4, T. Carr 0-1-1. Totals 17-25-65
Georgetown (98): Rayner Hernandez 0-0-0, Jalen Andujar 2-2-7, John Alcantara 5-0-11, Jomar Terrero 5-1-13, Aleks Dimov 4-0-8, Brendan Loewen 2-0-4, Irvin Zapata 4-8-19, Jack Duggan 2-1-7, Brayan Perez 5-1-13, Marcos Yones 0-0-0, Brady Kent 5-0-14, Ryan Skahan 1-0-2, Tony Tavares 0-0-0, Gio Goncalves 0-0-0, Ish Guzman 0-0-0. Totals 35-13-98
3-pointers: G — Kent 4, Zapata 3, Terrero 2, Duggan 2, Perez 2, Andujar, Alcantara; HSC — Nieves, Smith, Torres, Johnson
HS of Commerce (8-14): 11 14 23 17 — 65
Georgetown (15-6): 21 26 30 21 — 98
Georgetown 55, Mashpee 31
Division 4 First Round
Mashpee (31): Izzy Almeida 1-1-3, Ciara Hendricks 3-2-8, Alanna McDonald 6-2-16, Mia Fougere 1-2-4, Nivaya Jean 0-0-0, Talise Jonas 0-0-0, Skylar Hickey 0-0-0, Jyrzie Alves 0-0-0, Ari Andrade 0-0-0. Totals 11-7-31
Georgetown (55): Alyssa Ziolkowski 0-0-0, Bryley Hodges 1-0-3, Jamisen Tanzilli 0-0-0, Victoria Barbarick 7-0-14, Talya Mariani 5-1-15, Katie Davies 1-0-3, Avery Upite 6-1-13, Ella Thompson 0-0-0, Maddie Halmen 2-0-6, Chloe Morrison 0-1-1, Charlotte Kane 0-0-0, Summer Young 0-0-0. Totals 22-3-55
3-pointers: G — Mariani 4, Halmen 2, Hodges, Davies; M — McDonald 2
Mashpee (12-12): 12 3 10 6 — 31
Georgetown (13-8): 7 19 22 7 — 55