It was a tough loss for the East Boston High School boys basketball team last week against archrival Charlestown during the state championship qualification game.
Eastie (9-5) had a better regular season record than Charlestown (6-9) and were leading the Townies by 8 at the half. However, Eastie was unable to hold on and were held to only 12 points for the entire second half and ended up losing 67-48.
Charlestown went on a 13-7 run to start the third quarter. Led by Taris Wilson, the Townies’ junior guard scored 14 points in the second half that included a dunk.
After a disappointing third quarter the Jets seemed to be off their game.
‘They wanted it more,” Eastie Coach Shawn Brown told the Globe after the game. “They took our guys heart. Point blank. There’s nothing else to say about it. They took their heart. No fight in them,’ coach Shawn Brown said after his alma mater completed the sweep against his team.”
At the start of the game it looked as though Pat Santos was on his way to a big scoring game and the Jets would advance. Santos, known for taking a foul shot rebound down by two points and heaving the ball 80 feet for an ESPN-number one highlight game winning shot earlier this year.
Santos’s shot catapulted the Jets over Madison Park 43-42 in December during the regular season.
However, the Townies defense kept Santos from scoring any points in the second half.
On December 20 the Townies handed Eastie its first loss on the season.
Led by an injured Alijah Robinson, Charlestown beat Eastie 53-48 to improve to 2-2 on the season.
In that game, the Jets were within one and with the game 49-48 with less than a minute left. The Townies junior guard Taris Wilson fouled and hit one of two free throws putting Charlestown up 50-48.
The Jets were called for a backcourt violation and Charlestown added three more points from foul shots to beat Eastie by five.