Wayland Boys Travel Basketball Team Wins Division Championship

The following was submitted by the coaches of the Wayland 8th Grade Boys team

WAYLAND, MA — The Wayland 8th Grade Boys travel team parlayed their success and undefeated regular season into being crowned the New England Travel Championship Tournament Mid-Major Division Champions this past weekend at the Mass Premier Courts in Foxborough.

Wayland did not lose a game during their regular season, moved up to Division 2 (D2) for playoffs and won their first MetroWest league playoff game versus Brookline. Wayland lost the following weekend to Bedford, the highest ranked D2 team, however, Wayland still qualified for the end of season New England Travel Championship Tournament based on their number of wins and overall winning percentage.

To start the tournament, Wayland faced a stacked Nantucket team with excellent guards and a formidable center. Wayland had a slight lead at half-time and despite Alex Pearlman and James Morris each making three 3-pointers, Nantucket continually answered with big shots of their own. Nantucket stayed hot the entire second half as well, going 11-13 from beyond the arc for the game and ultimately beat Wayland 65-59 in the first-round game.

“Even though we lost our first game, we never got down on ourselves. We’re fortunate to have such a resilient group of kids who couldn’t wait for our second game to put the Nantucket loss behind us,” said head coach, Quentin Nowland.

In the second game, Wayland faced Monomoy and jumped out to an early 23-8 lead, but Monomoy battled back in the second quarter as Wayland saw their lead evaporate. It was tied at halftime and Wayland needed their forwards and centers Jake Soslow, DP Saviano and Max Tharpe to really step up as Brody Sambucci left the game with an illness.

“The biggest thing for us is that everyone played quality minutes the entire regular season,” said assistant coach, Jake Tharpe. “Even though we lost one of our best players, we still had plenty of other guys who were ready to embrace the moment.”

And thankfully for Wayland, they did. Soslow converted on all his shots in the second half, including two clutch free throws and finished with 8 points. Tharpe dominated the paint with 13 second half points and led all players with 21 points. Saviano rebounded, forced several turnovers and then hit a buzzer beater to end the third quarter, giving Wayland the momentum shift they needed to start the fourth. Wayland continued to execute, valued their possessions and earned a much-needed victory, 70-63.

Wayland started bracket play on Sunday with their first game against Dennis-Yarmouth (DY). Jackson Nowland knocked down multiple treys in the first quarter and continued his hot streak for the rest of the game, finishing with 20 points. Nolan Greenfield had several assists and converted a crucial ‘and 1’ to end DY’s second quarter run right before half-time. Gio Sailsman added 15 points and five steals to set the tone defensively. Wayland switched their defensive looks between man and zone to account for several great DY shooters and took control from the start to finish, winning 58-47.

By winning their first game on Sunday against DY, Wayland advanced to the semi-finals versus Newton. Wayland had faced Newton early in the regular season but this was a different Newton team with much more experience. It was back and forth the entire game with multiple lead changes in the second and third quarter. But with the game and season on the line, it was Sailsman who stepped up for Wayland like he did so many times before with four steals and 16 points in the fourth quarter. Sailsman finished with a game-high 25 points, Nowland contributed 19 more and Wayland pulled away in the last six minutes and won a hard-fought battle 62-51.

The championship game featured the two mid-major heavyweights, Wayland and Raynham. Raynham had just beat Nantucket by 16 points; the same Nantucket that handed Wayland their loss the day before. Any doubts by Wayland were soon erased as Wayland repeatedly broke Raynham’s full court press thanks to George Bressler’s savvy passing and Wayland jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead help from Sambucci’s six first quarter fast-break points. Wayland knew Raynham would not easily fold and sure enough, Raynham closed out the second quarter on a 6-0 run. Again, Bressler worked his magic distributing the ball all over the court but it was his three pointer in the third quarter that put Raynham behind double-digits and Wayland never looked back. Four players (Morris, Nowland, Sailsman and Sambucci) all scored in double-digits as Wayland continued to execute offensively and saved their best defensive performance for last as they held Raynham to 37 points, winning the championship 57 to 37.

“We could not have asked for a better way to end the season and the boys’ middle school careers,” Nowland said. “Every single one of them contributed this weekend; each of them scored, rebounded, played hard and supported each other. This was a total team effort,” Nowland continued. “I’m so proud of these boys. I cannot wait to watch them in high school and see what becomes of them on and off the court.”

Coach Nowland made it a point to thank Donny Guerinoni, the Wayland Youth Basketball Association (WYBA) President, as well.

“Donny helped us so much the past year since he took over the WYBA. Our entire team was able to learn from him as a former college coach at Harvard, Stanford, TCU and LSU, and we could not have done this without him.”

Season highlights:

• Undefeated regular season (15-0), including wins against Lincoln-Sudbury, Newton, Everett, Malden & Concord-Carlisle
• Moved up to Division 2 (D2) for Playoffs
• Wins versus D1 and D2 teams: Brookline (D1), Masconomet (D1), Waltham (D2) & King Philip (D2)
• Qualified and Won the 2024 New England Travel Championship Tournament Mid-Major Division