WASCO SHINES AS ARLINGTON CLINCHES SHARE OF MIDDLESEX LIBERTY TITLE
Woburn, MA. February 6, 2108. On any given night any one of Arlington’s five starters can go off.
Tuesday night in Woburn it was Ben Wasco’s turn.
With six minutes left Arlington was clinging to a 41-39 lead. Over the next two minutes the senior tri-captain, erupted with two consecutive swished three-pointers and four straight free throws to personally outscore the Tanners 10-0 stretching the Spy Ponder lead to 12 at 51-39. For good measure he added a blocked shot and two rebounds on the defensive end leading his mates to a decisive 22 point fourth quarter that buried the Tanners 60-49.
Arlington coach John Bowler approved. “Ben played great for us tonight. He hit big shots, converted his foul shots. He was huge for us.”
Wasco’s impressive line included a game high 22 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks as he successfully compensated for the absence of his big man partner junior tri-captain James Gascoigne who had to sit for the entire game after an early injury.
With Gascoigne out and high scoring sophomore Bensley Joseph quiet with three points, Wasco’s timing was excellent.
He got lots of help. Junior Nick Karalis contributed nine points, limited Woburn’s potent senior point guard Isaiah Cashwell-Doe to 13 and shut him out in the critical final quarter.
Tri-captain senior Dom Black, who continues to make the spectacular routine, came through with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and his usual stellar job on defense holding Woburn’s league all star Matt Juko to just eight points, three of them in garbage time.
The bench pitched in, too, combining for 11 big points in short minutes from three players. It was junior Sam Swift’s three that ignited Arlington’s fourth quarter explosion. Junior Stephen McGillivray’s falling down, offensive rebound put-back came right after Cashwell-Doe had hit a three to bring Woburn within one late in the third quarter. And rugged junior Joey Pazzia contributed six points, two rebounds and an assist.
It was a game of runs. The Spy Ponders opened quickly and ran out to a 10-0 lead, but the Tanners, always tough on their home floor according to Bowler, closed out the first half with an 18-6 run of their own to lead at the break 25 – 23. Cashwell-Doe, scored 8 straight on consecutive treys and two free throws to spark the run.
Of course, the run that mattered most was Wasco’s in the middle of that big fourth quarter for the Spy Ponders.
With the win, their thirty-first straight in the league, Arlington secured at least a share of their third consecutive Middlesex Liberty title. A win over Lexington on Senior Night Friday would give them the title outright and would seem to take a bit of the pressure off of tough upcoming trips to Belmont and Winchester.
Bowler did not agree and said there is much more left for his team to accomplish. “Right now we’re the one seed in the North and we want to keep it that way. It’s a matter of pride (and home games in the tournament) to be able to say you’re the one seed. We just want to keep winning. Our goal is not just to win the league, but to go undefeated. We’ve got Lexington next. They’re playing well and gave us a battle the first time, so we need to come ready to play on senior night.”
Senior night is this Friday, 7PM in Arlington’s Toczylowski Gym.