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Sports

Sharon High Spoils Senior Night for Stoughton High Boys' Basketball

The Black Knights led 51-46 going into the fourth quarter, but Sharon was able to pull away and earn a 68-64 victory on Stoughton's senior night, handing Stoughton its first Davenport Division loss.

On a night that was aimed at honoring the Stoughton High senior cheerleaders and boys’ basketball players, it was a pair of Sharon High seniors that stole the show.

Eric Tung had a game-high 20 points while classmate Eric Bennett chipped in with 16 and the Eagles were able to upset the Black Knights, 68-64.

“We were flat [and] they were hot,” Stoughton head coach John Gallivan said. “They made more basketball plays than us. We had chances but we didn’t capitalize on them. To their credit, they did just enough to beat us tonight.”

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Stoughton falls to 9-7 with the loss, 6-1 in the Davenport Division.

In a game that saw two big runs by both teams in the second half, it was Sharon who ended up pulling away with the victory. The Black Knights closed out the third quarter with a 10-0 run, giving them a 51-46 lead. However, it was the Eagles’ 9-1 run to start the fourth quarter that pulled them back into contention and eventually helped them win.

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Coming off a physically grueling and emotionally draining four overtime win over , Gallivan wasn’t worried about his team's legs, but rather their mental focus.

“I don’t know if it was physical fatigue, maybe mental and emotional fatigue,” Gallivan said. “That’s part of the game, you have to recover. They don’t care we played a long game. Just like we don’t care who they played the other night. We have to be ready and that’s the high school schedule. We weren’t there.”

Sophomores Aaron Calixte and Joe Bunce-Grenon paced the Black Knights offensively with 15 points apiece. It was Bunce-Grenon’s off the bench against Sharon this season.

“This team, for whatever reason, Joe seems to do well against offensively,” Gallivan said. “He was aggressive, he was attacking the rim, and he hit a couple of threes as well, which makes the attack even easier. Joe was strong tonight.”

With a chance to either tie or pull ahead, Stoughton failed to convert on their last four free throw attempts.

“We missed enough free throws, not just towards the end, but throughout the whole game, that we never quite got over the hump,” Gallivan said. “When we did, we got a couple of steals and a couple of easy baskets, we would have had a soft possession where we would give them an easy shot and all of a sudden they’re right back in it. They wanted it.”

Senior Kris Joyce was limited to 7 points but contributed on the boards and recorded four blocks.

“They did a good job very aggressively defending [Kris],” Gallivan said. “Kris had some opportunities that maybe he normally hits those shots but they were always running guys at him. If he only gets seven points, he contributes in seven different ways.”

In the end, Tung was too much. He was able to convert on open looks from beyond the perimeter and sank his free throws to close out the game.

“Both games this year, he’s shot very well against us,” Gallivan said of Tung. “We talked about him before the game, and we still didn’t get enough stops on him. We didn’t get enough high hands on the close outs and we didn’t stay close enough to him. We kind of treated him like he was just another guy tonight and we were not supposed to.”

Stoughton honored a total of eight seniors before the game, two cheerleaders and six basketball players. The basketball players included Kevin Bui, Atticus Rentsch, Teddy Costa, Kris Joyce, Justin Rodrigues, and Mekkel Blanchard.

“The seniors this year have been tremendous kids,” Gallivan said. “Some of them played more than others, obviously, but in practice they have been tireless workers and very supportive of their teammates when they are on the bench. You can’t have a successful season without guys that are willing to accept and play their role to the fullest. These seniors have done a great job over the last couple of years and we’re really going to miss them.”

Stoughton will try again on Tuesday to reach their tenth win when they visit Davenport Division rival Canton. With a win, Stoughton will clinch the Davenport Division crown and will also earn a postseason birth. Despite their first division loss tonight, Gallivan isn’t worried about his team.

“If this team has done one thing this year, it’s [respond] in the face of adversity,” Gallivan said. “We’ve had some tough losses. We had a triple overtime loss to , we had an overtime loss to on a last-second shot. We have always stuck together and we have always bounced back.”

Check the media gallery above for senior night highlights, interviews and a halftime performance from Xclusive Knights.

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