Although unable to break its losing streak, the Weston High School boys' basketball team displayed signs of a squad finally gelling in the Wildcats’ 59-52 loss to Randolph Monday night.
“I think we’re getting closer and closer to where we need to be,” said Wildcats coach Rob Gibbons. “Tonight’s a validation of that. We did fall short, but I felt we put two halves of good basketball together. That’s something we’ve been struggling to do for a little while.”
The loss drops Weston to 2-12 on the season and pushes the Wildcats’ losing streak to nine games.
The struggling Wildcats exhibited a fiery competitiveness to begin the contest as they garnered a 9-3 lead when senior Tim Grant nailed a three-pointer. (Grant finished the game with 16 points.) Jon Taburro then helped Weston maintain that advantage, draining a basket at the first-quarter buzzer and handing the Wildcats a 13-9 cushion.
But the Blue Devils fought back and the two teams traded leads in the second quarter before a Rashaan Powell pull-up jumper allowed the Wildcats to head into halftime leading 23-21.
The third quarter featured the two combatants once again jockeying back and forth until Randolph closed out the period with a Rayshawn Fregeau three-pointer and Marc Duverge scoring a basket off a Weston turnover. That gave the Blue Devils the 38-34 advantage.
Powell (12 points) scored on a fast break lay-up to start the fourth quarter, slashing the deficit to two. But that would be as close as the Wildcats would get. The Blue Devils went on a 11-4 run and secured the victory.
“We had a situation tonight where we did everything right--rebound, guard our guys,” said Gibbons. “But in the second half, we ended up having 13 turnovers. And when you do that, you lessen your opportunities to score. We need to cut down on our turnovers. We need to put everything in a row.”
