Westford Academy Boys’ Basketball suffered their tenth loss of the season by a score of 53-40 on Sunday, Feb. 11 at home against Burlington. This defeat extends their losing streak to five games, putting their overall record at 7-10.
Burlington started out the game hot behind the arc, shooting 2/2 from three-point land, leading to WA head coach Christopher Bramanti calling a timeout only two minutes into the game.
Out of the timeout, senior guard Tarun Sreekanth brought some life defensively to the Ghosts by drawing an offensive foul and also picking out a steal.
As the first quarter continued, it was all Burlington in the driver seat. They continuously got stops defensively and converted with points on the offensive end. With Burlington having all the momentum, it led to them hitting back-to-back three pointers, forcing Bramanti to use his second time out. This concluded the end of the first quarter with WA trailing 18-8.
“We had to close out their three-pointers quicker and limit our turnovers,” junior guard Andrew O’Brien said.
Senior forward Nick Russo turned up big for the Ghosts defensively in the second quarter. Russo helped turn the momentum towards WA by grabbing a couple crucial rebounds and blocking shots. He ended the game with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Junior forwards Jesse Moran and Andrew O’Brien became impactful off the bench, with both of them getting stops defensively and converting them into points. Senior point guard Jonathan Coughlin helped offensively by assisting O’Brien in the corner for three. Coughlin led Westford Academy in assists with three. Moran was able to get a basket of his own with a sneaky baseline cut, catching his defender off guard. With signs of a comeback, WA cut Burlington’s lead down to eight points at halftime, trailing 25-17.
In the third quarter, junior Vishal Rampur turned the momentum towards Westford Academy. Rampur led the team in both points and rebounds, with a statline of 17 points and 11 rebounds. He was able to get most of his points in the paint.
Another big contributor in the third quarter was junior guard Nate Pitts. He was the second highest scorer with nine points, all of them coming from behind the three point arc. Along with the great shooting, he put in a good shift defensively, forcing a backcourt violation.
However, WA was not able to keep their momentum going, as they missed two shots in a row and Burlington converted offensively, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to grow their lead back up to 10, with Burlington leading 34-24.
The game continued to be back and forth with both teams trading defensive stops. A big stop for WA came from Russo and Pitts, who were able to force a turnover and gain possession of the ball. This turnover sparked a comeback for WA, with Rampur drawing a foul and also scoring the basket.
With the momentum completely in favor of WA, they were able to cut Burlington’s lead down to just three points late in the third quarter. But Burlington snapped back, scoring on consecutive possessions to end the third quarter, building their lead to 40-33.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Burlington was able to maintain their lead, as WA only scored seven points in the final quarter in comparison to Burlington’s 13 points. As the final buzzer sounded, Burlington came out victorious with a 53-40 win.
Despite the loss, WA remains focused on ending their losing streak and finishing out the year in the win column.
“We want to finish out the year strong and hopefully get to the tournament,” Bramanti said. “Our practices are rigorous and we focus on what we can do to make that happen.”
