Weston Boys' Basketball: Dedham Clips Wildcats in Overtime, 62-58

Needing one more win to clinch the Division III MIAA tournament, the Dedham High School boys' basketball team rode the hot hand of Rohit Kumar, (10 points) who sank six free throws in the extra session, which lifted the Marauders past the Weston Wildcats, 62-58.

The win marks Dedham’s seventh of the season, as well as their second consecutive year of playoff basketball.   

“I’m excited for our guys because they’ve worked hard, and now we’re going to try to improve our seed,” said Dedham head coach Mike Plansky.   

“It feels good,” said Marauders forward Vinny Iarrobino, who turned in 17 points. “We’re in the playoffs now, and now we’ve got to get back to practice.”

As for Weston, this was once again another learning opportunity for a team that hasn’t registered a win since defeating Nashoba Valley Tech in December.

“We look at how we progress during the season, and we don’t really pay attention to wins and losses as much as we do as how far the kids have come as a team, and as a collective group of guys that just started playing together two months ago, essentially,” said Weston head coach Rob Gibbons.

The Marauders jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead before the Wildcats clawed back to make it 15-14 when Gage Hartman (11 points), recorded a trifecta at the buzzer of the first quarter.  

However, Hartman’s shot didn’t quite provide the necessary momentum for the Wildcats, who allowed the Marauders to retain the lead, and end the half on a 10-5 run, thanks to Iarrobino, Jeremy Clifford and Kevin Rush, who each provided Dedham with a handful of buckets during the second frame.   

“[Clifford] has been big [for our team] all season,” said Iarrobino. “He’s up there in the Bay State Conference in scoring, and he’s just [clutch].”  

Dedham’s lead wasn’t exactly safe once the second half began, as Justin Tayabjl jumpstarted the Weston offense with back-to-back three-pointers before the Marauders answered with a few buckets and assists from Clifford and Iarrobino.

“When Jeremy plays well, we have a good chance of winning, and Vinny can really take care of the paint, and that’s what he did [on Wednesday],” said Plansky.

Weston eventually erased Dedham’s lead with 2:21 remaining in the fourth quarter when he Tayabjl stole the ball from a member of the Marauder offense, and rushed down court for a layup. But the Marauders answered with a shot in the paint by Iarrobino before the Wildcats sent Molyneaux Deondre to the line to sink two free throws.

Following Weston’s free throws, Dedham’s Mike Ryan scored the equalizer with less than 10 seconds remaining after obtaining the ball in the paint, which forced overtime.

Entering the fifth period, the Marauders ramped up the intensity on both ends to secure the win, as well as their third road victory, too.

“They’re a very well coached team. They’re very disciplined, and they’ve got great kids that know their roles really well,” said Gibbons. “They execute very well, and we tried to defend them as best we could, but when you execute that well, [then] there’s going to be openings, [and] the basketball Gods didn’t give it to us [because] a couple shots fell short.”

The Weston boys' team will travel to Waltham tomorrow for a 7 p.m. tip-off.