SWEET 16 GAMES ROCK ST STEPHEN’S FIELD HOUSE!!!!!!

Freedom Area Basketball League’s Senior Boys 2025-26 playoff campaign got underway this past Saturday with some pretty exciting games and a couple of upsets.  Expectations were running high as several teams were on some hot streaks and many teams are capable of winning this championship.

The action got underway with the Skid Marks facing the sailors.   Everyone knew that defense would be the key in this matchup and that thought process turned out to be true.  One of the league’s top scorers, Grant Hinton is a marquee player for the white team. The question was, could the brown team keep him under control.  Earlier this season Hinton put up 48 points tying the league record for most points in a game. I would consider this to be the key of the game.

Things started off strong with the white team taking a 10-8 lead at the end of the first.  Clearly the sailors came to play.  Coach little marshaled his forces at the end of the first period and sent his best group on the floor and they immediately jumped out to a quick lead and maintained a 23 to 16 lead at the half.  The sailors were held to a couple of three pointers and Hinton was held scoreless.

The second-half was more the same as the Skid Marks, after having lost the first period, won the 2^nd, 3rd and 4th periods to come away with a 42 to 29 defensive minded victory.  Defense wins championships and if you can hold a high-powered offense like the sailors 29 points you can hold anybody to a low total and with a lot of games.

The second game was a rematch of a game played less than 24 hours prior between Word Up and the Blueberries.  It seems as if a good night’s sleep did the blue team some good after a lackluster defensive performance the night before in a loss.  After getting out scored  30 to 18 in the first half, the Blueberries turned on some offense in the third quarter closing the margin to 35 to 32 with 9 minutes to go.  The fourth quarter was more of the same and wouldn’t you know it after 36 minutes of play we ended up in a tie, 44 to 44.

We’ve always maintained here that free throws, defense and making your layups wins championships. In the overtime period, the Blueberries were zero for eight from the free throw line while converting only one field goal. The problem is that Word Up only had three free throws in overtime and made one of them and ended up falling 47 to 46 in overtime.  Somehow the blue team dodged the free throw bullet and advance to the next round. If I can make a suggestion you might wanna practice a little bit from the charity stripe going forward if you want to advance to the next round and on.  By the way, that was a mini upset.

The next game was a matchup between our two most veteran coaches in the game that was sure to be one for the ages.  Bufano was coming into the game on the back of a 7 game win streak and Hillman limped into the playoffs with a mediocre record of 8 and 9.  The gold team came out guns are blazing taking a 13 the 10 lead at the end of the first quarter and then it happened… somebody put a lid on the basket for the gold team for the next half an hour.  In the second quarter Hillman’s boys outscored but Bufano’s boys 16 to 0 and then in the third quarter 14 to 7 to carry a 40 to 20 lead into the fourth quarter.  I’m not sure what happened after that because I left the gym looking for something more interesting to do, but looking at the score book there was more the same in the fourth quarter as Hillman wins walking away 51 to 24.  When the gold team goes flat the gold team goes really flat.  8 of 10 players scored for Hillman as the playoff tuned green team showed balanced offense along with shutdown defense.

Competition intensified as Notari took on Bolster in what is considered now a midday classic.  Upset minded Bolster jumped out to an 18 to 4 first quarter lead.  Notari answered with a 10 to 4 second quarter run to tighten the score to 22 to 14 at the half.  The green team pulled even closer in the third quarter outscoring the orange team by 4 points to draw to within 4 as the fourth quarter opened.  Senior Luke Notari decided it was time to throw the team on his back and see if he could carry them across the finish line scoring 6 points in the fourth quarter and sending the game into overtime 37 to 37.

In overtime, Notari made a basket and two free throws while Bolster missed four straight free throws on the way to falling 41 to 37.

In the next game, Compofelice took on Davidson in a game that featured balanced offense against tough defense.  The boys in blue showed some slick offensive playmaking in the first quarter and jumped out to a 13 to 2 lead that they would never relinquish.  In the second quarter Davidson pulled 2 points closer to take a nine point, 21 to 12 deficit to the intermission… then it happened…

The blue Team who is known for its hot streaks, unleashed the beast in the third quarter putting up 18 points but Davidson ably answered with 21 points of their own led by Maiwand Jahangir’s four 3 pointers.  Just when you thought it might be over, it wasn’t as the score at the end of three stood at 39 to 33.  So if you’ve ever been to a bull fight you’ve seen the matador always gets out of the way of the charging bull.  That seemed to be the style of defense both teams were playing in the third quarter.  The fourth quarter was entirely different.

The highly intense fourth quarter it featured 6 steals on each team as well as a half a dozen turnovers between the two of them and when the smoke cleared Compofelice prevailed 45 to 39 to advance to the elite 8.

The next game featured the number one seeded SOCOM against the bottom seeded Purple Rain in what most considered to be the most unbalanced game of the day.  In typical fashion, the top seed jumped out to a 14 to one lead at the end of the first quarter.  Everyone in the gym is thinking “OK here we go another blowout” because in their last meeting a couple of weeks ago, SOCOM won by like 90 points…..OK 20 something.

The great thing about this basketball league is that on any given day any team can step up and play with courage and tenacity even when the chips are down.  That’s what happened in this case.  Purple rain eliminated “give up” from their vocabulary and decided to start playing basketball.  Guys like Ryan Houck who had 13 points, Grayson Delaney and Tanner Grogan who had six point each and Matthew Ford and Austin Safran who scored points and put up good defensive performances decided to take a stand.  An amazing and competitive fashion, the bottom remaining seed in the tournament only allowed the number one seed to advance one more point over them for the remaining 3/4 proving that they can play with anyone. Their season was defined by hanging tough with the best team in the league and only being outscored 36 to 35 for the final 27 minutes.

SOCOM’s usual balance attack was rock solid as they maintained the lead throughout the game. Nathan Frattali led all scorers with 16 points.  If they continue to play solid defense and spread the ball around the floor, the camouflage team’s date with destiny seems right around the corner.

The next the next game featured the number two seed UNC and the Goon Squad in a match up with Puckett who had won a “play in” game the previous night and was running on fumes.  Lagoons entered the game having lost three of their last four games and were seemingly playing in reverse as the continuity they showed early in the season was gone. This was a chance to fix that problem for them.

The teams stayed close after the first period with the pink team outscoring the tie-dye team 12 to 10.  In the second quarter, coach Matthews decided to release the Kraken and his boys went to town led by senior Charlie Hitzel who scored 13 in the quarter as they took a 28 to 13 lead to the half. The conclusion of this game seemed inevitable.  It was more of the same in the third quarter as all nine players on the pink team scored in a game where they found their balance and their ability to play defense again.  The other top seeds in this tournament should take notice as they won 59 to 27 in the most lopsided game of the day.

In the nightcap, the third seed Thomas came looking to right the wrongs of the 2024-25 season and put the rest of the league on notice that we’re here and you’re going to have to go through us if you want to win it.   Typical early jockeying in the first quarter led to an 11 to 10 lead. In the second quarter they extended their lead to 21 to 14 at the intermission.  Their long range shooting was the key ingredient in the first half as they made four 3 pointers.

So, another thing about this league is every once in a while, an unexpected player gets a hot hand and goes off. That’s what happened in the third quarter as Alexander mcguinn put up eight points while extending the lead to 31 to 15 as they held the red team to a single point in the quarter. In the fourth quarter McGinn added another 2 buckets for his team high 16 points as teammate Liam MacCarroll bucketed 15 in a convincing 46-25 win.

Tuesday elite 8 promises to be strong and competitive night.  Weather permitting we’re gonna go. Hope to see you there.