From left: Tahanto’s Sam Perrone and Ryan Belinskas react too late to stop Trevor Granville’s drive to the basket.  (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)

With a score of 46-36, the Bromfield Trojans defeated the Littleton Tigers in boys basketball for the first time in four years last Tuesday, Jan. 10.

"I want to win tonight's game really badly," senior co-captain Sam Shepherd said before the game. "This is a league game, and we know that Littleton is good; we've been working hard to beat them."

The first quarter was low scoring, as both teams played tight defense. Junior starter Matt Griffin scored six points in the first quarter, while sophomore Ryan Kennedy added two points to the score. Shepherd led his team in defensive rebounds and had one defensive block. The first quarter ended with a close score of eight to six, Bromfield in the lead by two points.

Bromfield stepped up its offense in the second quarter, scoring 18 points and getting 10 rebounds. Off the bench, junior Kevin Sun impressed his teammates and coach scoring seven points, including a three-point swish.

With one minute left in the first half, Littleton and Harvard were tied at a score of 23 points before Kennedy hit a jump shot putting his team ahead by two as the half ended.

Littleton made the first two baskets of the second half before Griffin scored four points for Bromfield. The third quarter was fast paced with many breakaways back and forth down the court by both opponents. Shepherd had another defensive block, a steal, and scored three points.

In the fourth quarter, junior Trevor Granville started off with a three-point shot. On the next play, he made a critical rebound before moving the ball down the court and passing it off to Griffin for an easy jump shot under the basket, giving Griffin a 16-point total for the game. Bromfield was able to control the ball and maintain its lead.

Tahanto’s Andy Dellasanta tries to block a shot by Bromfield’s Matt Griffin.

"It was a game that Bromfield needed to play as a team if they wanted to win, and they did just that," former Bromfield junior varsity basketball coach of 20 years Stephen Besold said. "In the second half Bromfield held onto the lead and dominated the game."

Senior Brian McCullough slowed down his team's offense by setting up and running plays to move the ball around and to open up shots closer to the basket. Granville scored the last two points of the game from the free-throw line, closing out the game with a 10-point lead for Bromfield.

Holding Littleton to a low score of 36 points was a feat in itself for Bromfield; Littleton on average has been scoring 68 points per game in their season so far.

"It was a great defensive game for us and we were really able to slow them down," Coach Tom Hill said after the game. "The boys were able to successfully play a new zone defense that they had only practiced for a couple of days prior to the game."

McCullough said he was thrilled with the outcome of the game and that it was a big league win for his team.

"We had a game plan and we knew what we had to do," he said. "We executed our plan tremendously and held them to a low score; defensively, we were great."

The Bromfield Trojans won again on Friday, Jan. 13, with a 64-57 victory over Tahanto.