At their home court, the Bromfield Trojans defeated the Maynard Tigers in a competitive and physical game on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The Bromfield boys varsity basketball team now holds a respectable record of nine wins and three losses.
Bromfield started off the game with starting center and senior co-captain Sam Shepherd winning the jump ball. Junior Trevor Granville then scored the first two points for the home team on an aggressive drive to the hoop. After an impressive steal by Shepherd and a quick pass to his teammate, senior co-captain Brian McCullough made a layup off a free breakaway down the court.
Bromfield exhibited strong teamwork and good passing to fight through Maynard's tight man-to-man defense. Shepherd had six points and two rebounds in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Trojans scored 17 points. Granville sank two three-point shots, one from each side of the three-point arc. Junior starter Matt Griffin assisted McCullough setting him up for an open layup on the right side of the basket. In back-to-back plays, Griffin scored a three-point shot and then a two-point jump shot. McCullough finished off the second quarter with two baskets leaving his team up by 12 points at halftime.
Bromfield's two-three zone setup demonstrated their defensive strength and as a team the boys had 10 rebounds. McCullough said he thought the game went well.
"We continued to hustle on defense and held them to just 46 points," he said. "We seem to have really found the face of our team in defense."
"Physical, consistent defense and even better offense got us the win," said senior Peter Killian.
The outstanding offense was seen in the third quarter when McCullough effectively fought through Maynard's defense by using a spin move to sink a two-point shot in the third quarter. Additionally, Granville had a four-point play; he made and got fouled on a three-point shot and made the foul shot that followed.
The final quarter of the game began with a steal by Granville, who aggressively dribbled right to the basket for a layup. Throughout the entire game, Granville made six out of seven foul shots from the free-throw line and led his team offensively with 21 points.
During the middle of the second half Maynard began catching up.
"Our team was somewhat lacking offensively, but overall our defense played a solid game and our guys stepped it up when we needed them to in order to maintain the lead," Griffin said. "This game is a lesson for us to be more disciplined offensively in future games."
Starting forward Ryan Kennedy, sophomore, had three baskets in a row, the third off an assist from teammate Griffin. At the end of the fourth quarter, Shepherd made an offensive rebound and consequently scored Bromfield's final basket resulting in a final score of 54 points for Bromfield and 46 for Maynard.
"It was a very physical game, and both teams played hard the whole night," said Kennedy of the evenly matched game. "We managed to make a few more shots and get a few more rebounds, and that's what won us the game."