By Brayden Haley ’25
After going 20-2 in their remarkable regular season, and beating the Haverhill Hillies 87-50 in the first round of the Division I tournament, the Panthers advanced into the second round. Their opponent was the Central Catholic Raiders, who had gone 17-5 in their season. The two teams met on March 8th to decide who would advance to the next round, and who would be eliminated from the competition.
The basketball court was crowded with students from both schools, as well as other spectators who just wanted to see the game being played. Even influencer Overtime Megan managed to catch the game after a request on Instagram. The students of BHS found themselves down 24-15 after the completion of the first quarter, but kept playing their best as they yearned to go on to the next round and hopefully take it all in the championship. Overall, the players did an outstanding job with passing and defense. They made numerous great shots and blocks that I couldn’t ever imagine doing. Although I was watching on Bevcam, I still have to congratulate how well the athletes played. By halftime, the Panthers were still losing 39-32, but they scraped one basket off the score.
By the end of the third quarter, the score was 55-52 Raiders, but the players of the Panthers etched on four more points making it a close three-point game. In this quarter, the players were electric on the court and displayed how badly they wanted the W. The last quarter was the highest scoring of the game, with the Panthers scoring 23 and Central Catholic scoring 28. Unfortunately, the varsity basketball team was knocked out of the tourney, but they capped an incredible season that they won’t forget. Good luck to next year’s b-ball team.
