Play-offs and championship games for the Boston Public Schools in hockey and basketball took place last week during the February vacation. The EBHS hockey team and boys basketball teams lost games to Latin Academy and New Mission respectively.
At Matthews Arena at Northeastern, East Boston and Latin Academy clashed on Wednesday morning, Feb. 19. Neither team scored in the first. In the second, Latin Academy scored twice and might have scored more but first time goalie Stephen Tauro was on his game at the net. The Jets got on the board in the third with a goal from sophomore Robert Gray. The 2-1 victory for Latin Academy is the 7th in a row and they end at 5-12-2. Despite the loss, the Jets had a respectable season, winning seven games and losing ten. Coach Bob Anthony was a happy man getting his 100th win on Sunday, Feb. 16 with at 12-6 win over O’Bryant.
Coach Shawn Brown took his basketball team to Madison Park for a play-off game with Dorchester on Wednesday evening. In a hard fought game that went into overtime, the Jets defeated the Bears 59-57 to advance for the championship against New Mission (winner of the NM-Snowden game) on Thursday. The Jets trailed throughout the game. In the second, both teams scored 16 points but New Mission led 38-27. Final score: New Mission, 73; East Boston, 54.
New Mission ends at 18-2 and has the best record in the city. East Boston ends at 14-7. Kudos to junior guard Dion Knight and senior Marcus Shaw for playing with intensity in both games. In the semi-final, Knight had 35 points and 18 in the final. Shaw scored 11 in the final.
As we go press, East Boston will play Somerville at home on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in a first-round tournament game. New Mission will play in a quarterfinal round on March 1 against an opponent to be determined this week.