Flyers Lose In State Semifinals To Franklin

WORCESTER, MA - The Panthers of Franklin ended the Framingham High boys basketball team's season Saturday night.

The Flyers lost in the MIAA Division 1 Central Tournament 73-36 to #2-seeded Franklin.

With the win, Franklin moves on to the finals with a record of 17-5.

The Flyers end their season at 11-11, under head coach Ben Torbert, with the loss.

"First of all congratulations and credit goes to Franklin, who did an excellent job in all facets of the game today and reinforced that we still have a lot of hard work in front of us to get to the level where we want to be," said Torbert.

Saturday night's "game will serve as motivation for the players over the upcoming 9-month improvement season," said Torbert.

"This season marked a major step forward for our program in many ways and we will continue to build from here as we lose only 3 seniors and return a wealth of experience and production to next year's team," added Torbert.

Framingham had not qualified for the MIAA post-season tournament in eight years.

Saturday night's loss was the final game for senior captain Michael Bradley.

"Michael had an extremely productive basketball career at Framingham High," said Torbert.

Bradley was a 3-year varsity player, serving two years as captain.

Twice, he was a Bay State Conference 1st Team All Conference All-Star Selection.

Over his career, he scored about 800 points.

"He is still deciding on his plans for next year, but there is no doubt he is going on to be a quality college basketball player," said Torbert.

Two-year varsity player Josh Dumay also ended his hoop career at Framingham High Saturday night.

Dumay arrived at Framingham High as a junior. "He improved tremendously over the course of his time in the program and was a pleasure to coach," said Torbert.

The third senior on the Flyers was Taye Campbell, a 2-year varsity player, who had his senior season cut short with a leg injury.

"Taye brought a welcome toughness and football mentality to our team the last two seasons," said Torbert.

"Making the tournament, winning a tournament game, and getting to WPI were all firsts in the last 8 years and will allow us to have experiences we can draw on moving forward," said Torbert.

"I'm also proud of the fact that every team that beat us this year was a tournament team with a record of .500 or better (with the lone exception of L-S at 9-11)," added Torbert.

Looking toward next season, Torbert said "We need to continue to get better to beat the elite teams in the state."

Torbert said "we did not have let-downs this year, and we reacted to adversity throughout the season with composure and mental toughness. I'm very proud of the effort and hard work my players and coaches put in all season, and we have no doubt that we will be back and better next year."