By Brian Ladd, Special to UnionvilleTimes.com
EAST MARLBOROUGH — Round 2 Action of the URA Boys High School March Madness proved once again to be exciting basketball. The playoff atmosphere has really turned the intensity up 2 notches as the boys are leaving it all out on the floor. The word is out and the bleachers are starting to fill up in the early rounds of the tournament – we just might have to find ourselves a larger venue as we move on in the tourney.
Piasecki/Willis 61, Piper/Holcomb 54 – After playing the night before and pulling out an emotional win where leader Chris “C Pie” Piasecki had to be picked up off the floor, it was a wonder if he could even get out of bed on Thursday. Well, give me some of what he’s eating for breakfast because it’s very clear that if you want to make it to the title game you are going to get served up a piece of the Pie in the process. Piasecki was money from downtown, riding 8 three pointers for a game high 32 points, while Eric Willis was the whipped cream on top of the Pie with 19 points of his own. Once again the deep Piper/Holcomb squad saw scoring from practically the entire roster, but just couldn’t find the answer to stop Piasecki. James Chapman had 13 and Riley Piper chipped in 12 in the loss.
McGinnis/Hissey 63, Letang/Kelly 52 – With the tourney high record set in the earlier matchup by neighbor Chris Piasecki, captain Trace McGinnis turned to the scorekeeper before the opening buzzer and stated “32 isn’t enough to be the high for the night.” Finishing the regular season as the 1 seed carrying just one loss into the tourney, it appeared it was going to be a long night for the Purple People Eaters as the underdog 13 seed. But Stephen Rosenberg and Quin Savant said not so fast. Matching the 1 seed shot for shot in the first half, the McGinnis squad began to look worried but that’s when Trace “T Mac” McGinnis took over, matching his neighbor with his own 32 points en route to the win. Jerry Rassias had 12 and Colin Biggs 9 for the winners. Stephen Rosenberg continues his torrid shooting with 17 points and Quin Savant 13 in the loss.
Barnes/Burlotos 56, Trout/DeMatteis 43 – With Trout/DeMatteis facing the tough task of playing without one of their offensive leaders, the boys in gray were happy to see Big Game Hunter Conover stroll into the gym on Thursday night. Hunter decided he didn’t want a Windowview seat for this matchup. The problem for the Gray team was that Tim Christopher got wind of a certain writer predicting a loss for the Blue team and that was all she wrote. Christopher threw down 22 points and played fabulous defense to stymie the Gray squad. Like a Fish out of water, they had trouble getting in synch all night. Hunter Conover contributed 13 points and Michael DeMatteis 12 in the loss. Dan McClaskey also had 10 in the win.
