This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Medfield Falls to Oliver Ames in Muscato Championship Game

Oliver Ames' 14-6 run at the end of the first quarter led the Tigers to a 62-52 victory over Medfield in the championship game of the Muscato Tournament Friday.

This was the start Oliver Ames boys’ basketball coach Don Byron was looking for all along.

After trailing Medfield 8-6 in the first four minutes of the Val Muscato Tournament finals, the Tigers quickly turned the corner and went on a 14-6 run to end the first quarter en route to a 62-52 victory Friday night at the Nixon Gymnasium.

“That was the last thing we mentioned in the locker room,” Byron said. “We came out of the locker room [to start the game] a little bit better, which is something I was thankful for. We made it a point of emphasis and it went a long way tonight.”

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Although it took a little while to adjust to Medfield’s zone defenses, OA made some adjustments to counter Big Blue’s look.

With Medfield’s focus primarily on Nick Bruha (named to the all-tournament team), the Tigers looked for others to step up and help ease the pressure off of the senior guard. Bruha, battling a hip issue all night, scored six points, but fellow tri-captain Andrew Reardon (30 points) filled in nicely as the team’s primary target and earned tournament MVP honors as a result.

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“They came out of the locker room with a gimmick defense and a chaser on Bruha,” Byron said.

“We needed that help. When that happens it opens up other stuff and Andrew is the logical second scorer that we have and he stepped up and did some great things with it and additionally when Bruha was hurt for the fourth quarter he ran the team [at point guard] and he did a nice job there, too.”

While Reardon was the primary scorer with 18 of his 30 points coming in the second half, OA’s substitutes helped contribute in many areas.

Sophomore forward Nick Cidado chipped in with nine points and four steals off the bench, while senior tri-captain Alex Tepper notched five rebounds and John Moroney provided strong defense all night.

“It’s a key part of our team,” Reardon said about the team’s bench. “Everyone was playing hard. We have 13 strong players across the bench that are always ready to come in so that’s always a big help.”

While Medfield crawled its way back during a 16-3 fourth quarter run and cut the lead to single digits, the slow start did not help the Big Blue.

“If we played the same 32 minutes with the same kind of effort and intensity then I think it could have been a better outcome for us,” said Medfield coach Herb Grace. “Two things could have happened; we really could have gotten drilled and lost the game by a lot of points, or [we could have] strapped it on and kind of compete and that’s what we did so I was pleased with the fourth quarter effort.”

Despite the loss, the Warriors got a strong performance from sophomore forward Drew Shea, who was an all-tournament selection after notching a double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds).

“Drew played well tonight in one of his better games [of the season],” Grace said about Shea’s performance. “He had a good offensive game putting the ball in the basket for us and he’s capable of doing that.”

Medfield, now 3-3 this winter, looks to bounce back when they open the new year with a road game against Tri-Valley league foe Holliston Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.

“This was a good test for us to play out of our league,” said Grace. “Now we get back into the league season and we have our work cut out for us in the next 14 games starting with Holliston.”

OA improved to 5-0 and will travel to Stoughton for a huge Davenport Division showdown next Friday night at 6:30.

“It’s a great feeling to be 5-0,” Reardon said. “But we have a huge game with Stoughton coming up and we’ll be looking to go 6-0 next Friday.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?