Boys Hoops Grounded By Rival Newton North

January 17, 2024 • Needham’s comeback falls just short at the A Gym against the Tigers.

The Needham Boys Basketball team dropped their second straight game on Wednesday afternoon, falling 40-39 to Bay State Conference rival Newton North at the A gym. The game was rescheduled from its original Tuesday slot after poor road conditions forced the cancellation of all after school activities in the district.

The Rockets fought back from a double digit deficit, however, tying the game in the fourth quarter, 34-34 on a three pointer by Brian Cloonan. The Rockets Senior Captain finished with a game high 17 points.

Newton North started the game on an 11-0 run and the first Needham points scored at the free throw line, courtesy of Cloonan, though he only hit one of two. The Tigers responded with a three pointer by Freshman Jake Lyons, extending the lead to 14-1. After another Senior Captain, Jackson Shaw, hit one of two at the line, Needham finally sunk their first field goal of the game at the 3:05 mark as Max Goodrow hit a cutting Cloonan for the hoop. The Rockets would get three points the old fashioned way thanks to the basket by Senior Captain Campbell Keyes, who hit an and-1 opportunity.

The Tigers still led by double digits at the end of one quarter, 17-7 and maintained that deficit at halftime, 25-15. Senior Guard Devin Dellamarggio had a pair of baskets during the later portions of the second. Newton North got momentum early in the third quarter, taking a 29-15 lead before Cloonan hit a three off an inbound pass to cut the Newton North lead back to 11.

Shaw and Dellamarggio would sink baskets, followed by a steal and bucket from Cloonan to make it a 31-26 game with 3:06 left in the quarter. Cloonan would score nine points in the third, then the aforementioned three early in the fourth that tied the score.

The Tigers would miss a pair of free throws, leaving it a one point game with 1:11 to go. But the Rockets couldn’t get any more offense, as Newton North shut them down. The Rockets, who came into the game ranked #11 in the first MIAA Division 1 Boys Basketball rankings of the season, fall to 6-3, while the #18 Tigers improved to 6-3.

Needham hits the road for two games, first on Friday, January 19th at Natick, followed by a return match with the Tigers at Newton North on Tuesday, January 23rd, before returning home on Friday, January 26th to host Wellesley at the A gym.

You can see full highlights from the game on this week’s edition of the Needham Channel News, with Mike Levin and Ben Gilman, here:

The highlights from this story ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.

 

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