Stoughton High Boys’ Basketball Pulls Out Victory at Sharon

Leading scorer? Only two points. Most assists? Nope. Three clutch plays in the fourth quarter to help secure a Davenport Division win? Check.

Stoughton High boys’ basketball captain Joe Bunce-Grenon’s two offensive rebounds late in the fourth quarter and his steal with 5.4 seconds left, sparked the with Stoughton holding on to beat Sharon, 50-47, on the Eagles’ senior night.

The Black Knights improve to 14-2 with Friday’s road win, while the Eagles fall to 4-12.

With just under two minutes to play, Bunce-Grenon was able to box out his man and grab hold of a missed shot. He alertly put the ball right back in to give Stoughton a 48-44 lead. As the Eagles came back the other way, sophomore Jimmy Frizson drained a three-pointer that sent the Sharon gymnasium into a frenzy, as the home team pulled within one.

“On the second board, I got it and looked for a ball handler so we could run out the clock,” Bunce-Grenon said.

After the rebound, he was indeed able to find a ball handler. It ended up in the hands of junior Aaron Calixte, who was able to split defenders through the lane and finish with a pretty underhand lay up, accounting for 2 of his game-high 23 points, extending the Black Knights’ lead to 50-47.

“I talked to the whole team yesterday about ‘it’s time for someone to step up,’” Stoughton head coach John Gallivan said. “Joe had a nice performance Tuesday and I thought he was huge down the stretch tonight with a couple big offensive rebounds. He really was an energy guy tonight and when he’s an energy guy he’s tough to stop.”

But the tri-captain wasn’t done after his big rebounds. As Sharon set up their offense trailing by three, with less than 30 seconds and a chance to tie it, Bunce-Grenon reached out and was able to knock the ball away to Calixte, who was fouled with 4.6 seconds to go. Calixte wasn’t able to convert at the charity stripe, but Sharon’s Sean Asnes’ runner at the buzzer didn’t fall.

“It was a rough road tonight,” Gallivan said. “We felt like we did just enough to win. Sharon played a really tough game. We got an easy lead in the beginning and they fought and scratched and clawed back and it took us a while to make the right adjustments, and we’re still waiting on a couple of them, but we got just enough points to put it away.”

The Black Knights started the game on a 10-0 run and finished the first quarter up 18-7. But the Eagles were able to storm back over the next two frames, taking their first lead with 1:07 in the third quarter off a Brian Mukasa steal and layup.

“I think our guard play picked up a little bit,” Sharon head coach Bruce Jackman said. “We definitely changed our defenses around and that made a big difference. They didn’t adjust to all our defensive changes all the time.”

Stoughton was able to hold Mukasa to just 6 points in their , and only allowed him to score 2 in the first half of Friday’s game, but the point guard exploded for 13 points in the third quarter and finished with 18 overall.

“Sometimes he tries to do too much,” Jackman said. “I think what changed with him is when I sat him down. He doesn’t like to sit. Once he sits down for a while, he gets angry at me and he regains his focus a little bit.”

Neither team played particularly sharp, with each side missing layups on a number of occasions.

“I think the way we pushed it back to three, it wasn’t pretty,” Gallivan said. “It was kind of a metaphor for the whole game.”

“I think we missed a lot of shots that I think we should have made that would have made a big difference but they missed some shots too,” Jackman added.

Stoughton will finish up their regular season Hockomock schedule when they host on Tuesday. Calixte, only a junior, stands just 27 points away from .

“We just talked about what a great season Canton is having and how they’re going to the tournament,” Gallivan said. “We know they are going to give us everything we can handle Tuesday night. It’s our last home game and it’s senior night. It should be an emotional crowd and a packed house and we’re looking forward to it.”

Sharon, on the other hand, was unable to deliver a win for their departing seniors.

“Our three captains have done quite a bit,” Jackman said. “They’re good leaders: Caleb [Piltch-Loeb], Sam [D’Arcy], and Mitch [Goldenberg]. They’ve all contributed in their own way and they’ve had a very good senior year even though it doesn’t look that way in wins and losses. Ryan Long and Jonah [Kurman-Faber]. They had an opportunity to play tonight and start which is good for them because that’s pretty much what high school athletics is about.”