Postseason Primer: Stoughton High Boys’ Basketball Takes on Norwood Thursday

The "hosts" Norwood in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday in the MIAA Division 2 South Sectional Tournament.

The “home” game is at Canton High and starts at 7 p.m.

The Black Knights (17-4) are the #4 seed, while Norwood (12-9) is the #12 seed.

How they got here

in the opening round to advance Tuesday night in Stoughton. Trailing by eight points midway through the fourth quarter, the Black Knights came back to defeat #13 Duxbury, 69-63.

Aaron Calixte scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter, while Marcus Middleton paced the team on defense.

, the fifth-seeded team, 62-50 Tuesday night in Medfield. The Mustangs led wire-to-wire, hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half and ten overall.

Norwood had a balanced scoring attack, with five players scoring at least 8 points: Troy Sousa-Semper (13 points); Sean O’Neill (13 points); Tommy Bartucca (9 points); Daron English (9 points); and Steve Martinez (8 points).

Norwood Scouting Report

“We’ve had some different scouting reports on them and it seems like depending on who they play they adapt what they need to do,” Stoughton head coach John Gallivan said.

“They play some man, they play some zone. They have some good wins. They played a tough schedule. They beat Needham, who we just played [a 53-49 Stoughton loss]. We’re kind of preparing for everything.”

Gallivan continued, “Everybody’s kind of in that short turnaround time. The teams that won are glad they won, but when you realize you’re playing a game the next day, it’s hard.”

Canton is a home away from home

Thursday’s game can’t be at Stoughton High because of the gym’s limited capacity, so it will be at nearby Canton High instead. If not at SHS, there is no other gym Gallivan would rather be playing in, he said.

“We love Canton. We love the gym. It’ a little wider than [the SHS] court, it’s a little longer than [the SHS] court and we think that’s to our advantage in general because speed is our friend,” Gallivan said.

Stoughton earned a 61-38 win at Canton earlier this season in their lone game at CHS.

What lies ahead

Its important to keep only the Norwood game in focus, but from a media perspective, it’s too tempting not to look ahead. The winner of the Stoughton/Norwood game will play the winner of the Oliver Ames/Falmouth game in the Division 2 South semifinals.

Yes, Stoughton-OA, Chapter 3 could be on the horizon.

On the other side of the bracket, King Philip/Hopkinton and Randolph/Wellesley square off.

Division 2 South Sectional Bracket

The Division 2 South Sectional tournament bracket is posted in the media gallery and is available by clicking on the link below:

South Division 2