The Hollis-Brookline Cavaliers started their championship pursuit by squaring off against the 11th seed John Stark Generals. The team went into the game confident due to their regular season 59-31 victory but remained focused on the task at hand.

The Cavaliers took the court to an enormous ovation from the crowd and fed off the intensity of the moment. Many thought the Cavs offense would break out early and often but were surprised by John Stark’s tight defense. Hollis-Brookline soon focused on matching John Stark’s energy and defense.

After the first quarter it was obvious that this game was going to be a defensive battle. With the game being centered around defense, offense was tough to come by. The Cavaliers were led offensively by Nick Fothergill ‘17 with 13 points and Kyle Szewczyk ‘16 with 10 points. Fothergill and Szewczyk have provided the team with offensive support all year and continued against John Stark.

Down 1 with under 30 seconds left, the Cavs were slowly seeing their season and chances at a title slip away. With 10 seconds left in the game, trailing 28-29, Nick Fothergill nailed a game winning floater with 6 seconds remaining in the game to secure a 29-30 win.

“It was a great team effort, a lot of players stepped up to fill the role of two missing starters.” Nick Fothergill ‘17 explained. “Down the stretch we had some great defense and made a couple key plays to secure the win.”

The Cavaliers continue their quest for a championship when they head to Manchester to take on the number 3 seed Manchester West Blue Knights. Hollis-Brookline will have their hands full playing the 3 seed but are confident in their chances. Manchester West beat Kennett convincingly 77-34 but the Cavs are confident they won’t suffer the same fate.

“We lost to them (West) by 11 points last time. We know what it takes to beat them, they tend to fade and get lazy at points which we need to take advantage of.” Cam Chrystal ‘16 said about a tough matchup with Manchester West.

Hollis-Brookline Cavaliers vs Manchester West Blue Knights | Quarter Final round of NHIAA Division II boys basketball tournament | Game @ 7:00pm | Adults and Students $5 Senior Citizens $3 | Go Support the Cavaliers!