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It didn’t go the way that they had hoped, but that had a lot more to do with one team playing perhaps its best game of the year.
Winchester High boys basketball Coach John Fleming pretty much summed up his team’s 71-42 loss to host Bridgewater-Raynham (18-4, sixth seed) in a Sweet 16 Division 1 state tournament game on Tuesday night, March 3, that way.
The Trojans will now take on Bishop Feehan (15-7), the 14th seed, in an Elite 8 game on March 6 at Bridgewater-Raynham, starting at 7:30 p.m.
The Red & Black (17-5) came into the postseason as the 22nd seed. They started off well after knocking off Middlesex League rival Lexington in the Round of 32, 65-59 on Feb. 27.
Despite owning identical 16-4 regular season records, the Minutemen (16-5) were the 11th seed. They had the home game, but that didn’t deter Fleming’s squad that went on to beat them for the second time this year to secure the rubber game of this impromptu series, when it counted the most. But the game against the Trojans was a different story.
“Bridgewater-Raynham was just terrific,” Fleming said. “I saw them play in person on Saturday (Feb. 28, against Lawrence, a 63-41 win), and then watched around six of their games online. But against us, it looked like they played their best game of the year. I was a bit surprised to see a few of their secondary players make so many shots at such a high percentage rate, even when we were (guarding them closely).”
But Fleming also admitted that “they were clearly the most athletic team that we had played this season, and I think that was ultimately the biggest factor in the game,” while adding, “their defense and aggressiveness just overwhelmed us. We turned the ball over far too many times, while giving up too many extra chance points by not grabbing rebounds.”
Overall, the Winchester coach has few complaints on how the season played out.
“I think many people would say that this team exceeded expectations,” he said. “(It was based on) losing last year’s graduating seniors and a few others, plus the unknown of Dawson English’s comeback (after tearing) his ACL (one year ago), but this team really rallied together to put together a great season. They just missed sharing the league title by one game.”
For the second year in a row, the Red & Black won 16 regular season games. In that same time span, this same group won 33 games, a league title – almost a second one – and a tournament game.
“They have so much to be proud of,” added the veteran Winchester coach.
Besides the talented senior trio of Carson Sarpong, Harrison Burbine and English, sophomore Evan Wilson emerged as a future star.
“(Wilson) finished the season strong (as a starter after Burbine got hurt), and will likely enter next season as one of the top Middlesex League shooters,” Fleming said. “I’m expecting him to add to his game to become more than just a top tier shooter.”
Fleming was also pleasantly surprised with the overall depth on the varsity roster.
“It really shows the level of dedication and effort that our guys put into this team during the off season, before carrying it over into the season,” he said. “I’m really proud of this group, and can’t wait to see how the returning players continue their own journey into next season.”
Among those returnees is junior Devon Ryan, who started every game this season, while his classmate Jonathan Cutler started in a number of games. Combined them with Wilson, and Fleming is already looking forward to another winning season.
Juniors Max Phillips, essentially the team’s sixth man this year, and Gibby Ketterer, who was a backup guard behind Burbine for the majority of the season, will also play pivotal roles on next year’s team, according to Fleming.
Junior Sam Christmas, and sophomores Michael McDonough and Will Fiorentino didn't log a ton of minutes this season, but they still showed “tons of promise in practice,” added the coach. “They really pushed the first group (to get them ready for the games).”
But that doesn’t mean Fleming won’t miss this year’s five graduating seniors, and the many minutes that they logged on the court. Besides the Big 3 of Sarpong, English and Burbine, Adam Fiorentino and Declan Ross also contributed to the winning throughout their final high school season.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News in November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
