By Ellie Smith
Staff Writer

Last night in the Recreational High School Basketball championships, the Nets defeated the Warriors in a close game ending in a final score of 53-48. The Westford Recreational basketball league held the championship game at Westford Academy.

Warriors player senior JJ Gonzalez won the face off against Nets player senior Ben Kalan to start the game.

Early in the game, the score was close until eight minutes remaining in the first half when the Nets started to pull ahead and multiple rebounds by Kalan helped the Nets to increased their score.

In the last eight minutes of the first half, the Nets outscored the Warriors 11 to 6, resulting in a score of 23-18 at halftime. This was one of the lowest halftime scores this season for both teams.

The first five minutes of the second half were played evenly with both team exchanging baskets. The Nets then increased their lead to 12 points.

The Warriors then applied the full court press with 12 minutes left using a more aggressive defense to intensify the game. Many steals made by senior Cole Barnshaw kept the Warriors in the game.

The Warriors narrowed the gap to 39-38 and called a time out with 2:56 left in the game.

The teams traded baskets with two minutes left in the game until Nets players junior Sam Libby and sophomore Eashan Jani each scored a free throw to give the Nets a four point lead with 40 seconds left in the game.

Kalan made two critical steals, both intended passes from Barnshaw to Gonzalez and sealed the game with a final score of 53-48.

Kalan was named MVP of the game, scoring a total of 25 points. Nets player junior Nick Mizzoni contributed to the score with total of 14 points. Cole Barnshaw and Jerry Gonzalez were the front runners for the Warriors, both scoring two 3 point shots. Barnshaw scored a total of 22 points and Gonzalez with a total of 14 points.