WA Boys’ Basketball achieved their first victory of the season against Billerica on Friday, Dec. 22, with a final score of 58-40. Their season record is now 1-1.
WA came out strong, with early back-to-back two-pointers from senior Rajit Talluri and junior Nate Pitts, who scored his first points of the game off of a putback.
Billerica also started out strong with seven points in the first few minutes, but once WA took the lead on two buckets from junior Vishal Rampur, they never looked back. Sophomore Teddy Hirbour and Pitts both scored to extend WA’s lead. WA led at the end of the first quarter 14-8.
WA stayed hot as the second quarter started, as Talluri scored in the paint and Pitts followed with a three-pointer. Billerica, needing to change their game plan, called a timeout, but the timeout didn’t help them much, as WA continued to pour it on. Senior Nick Russo scored a couple of jumpshots, Rampur followed with a bucket of his own, and junior Jesse Moran scored in the paint.
Billerica called another timeout to try and stop WA’s momentum as they were down 27-8. Coming out of the timeout, Hirbour scored a couple of buckets and Moran followed with a three-pointer. Talluri also scored twice, adding onto his big game. As the first half came to an end, Pitts sank a three and junior Andrew O’Brien scored a two-pointer to extend WA’s lead to 43-16.
The second quarter was the reason WA won this game. They played well on both sides of the ball during this time, only allowing eight points from Billerica while putting up 29 offensively.
WA didn’t start the second half as strong on offense as in the first half, but their defense never faltered. The lone offensive highlight for WA during the third quarter was a deep three from senior Jonathan Coughlin to make the score 47-24 in favor of WA.
After that three, Billerica called another timeout with 2:50 left in the third quarter to strategize, but despite their attempts, they could only put up another two points for the rest of the quarter. Meanwhile, Russo and Talluri sank three combined free throws to extend WA’s lead to 50-26.
Hirbour started the fourth quarter off strong with a couple of buckets in the paint and Rampur followed with a two-pointer of his own, but with the addition of one made free throw from Russo and junior Finn McKeon each, that was all the offense that WA could muster, bringing the team’s final score to 58 points.
However, during that time, Billerica started creeping closer and closer to WA’s total. They hit a couple of threes and were helped by many made free throws by multiple players. In the end, WA was still able to win by 18 points, despite Billerica’s fourth quarter run.
Overall, it was a strong day for WA. Hirbour and Talluri led the way offensively for WA with 11 points each. Pitts and Rampur finished not too far behind with nine apiece, and Russo clocked in with seven of his own.
WA was hindered by fouls throughout the game, which is why Billerica was able to inch their way closer to WA’s lead. In the end, however, it didn’t matter as WA’s first half offense was just too much for Billerica to overcome, as they won 58-40.
“[The game] really showed off the hard work the team put in during practice this week. We played really well on both sides of the ball, especially in the first half,” Russo said. “I’m glad we got our first win against a good Billerica team and […] with the way everything turned out.”
WA Boys’ Basketball will play their next game at home on Wednesday, Dec. 27 against Pelham for the first game of their three-game Holiday Tournament throughout the holiday break.
