Above: After driving the baseline Jack McMullen makes the scoop. Photos by Chuck Nadeau. Find all his photos at chuckn.com.

After the Boys Basketball team romped through league play, the team met serious opposition Monday night in the D2 quarterfinals at home against Johnston. In the end, they had enough to win it – barely –  scoring three points in the final seconds for a 50-47 final score. 

This season, EG has been tentative at the start of every game. They seem to miss more shots in the first four minutes than during the rest of the game. In a close game, they always lose momentum in the fourth quarter, and then have to push to close it down.

The first quarter ended 18 to 11 for the Panthers. After a spirited second quarter it was 41 to 37 for the Avengers. The third was a back-and-forth quarter, with both teams not wanting to get too far behind.  The fourth quarter was a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat one. The game was tied 47 each with only 24 seconds left. Then, after a couple of misses by the Panthers, EG’s Will Foster steals an inbound pass, gets it to Jack McMullen, who scores in a layup and then gets one more point with a free throw.

Jack McMullen led scoring for EG with 15 points; Andy Plimpton had 12.

The game was well played by both teams with good coaching. At one point during the game, Panthers Coach Livingston benched a player for throwing the ball at an EG player, which did this fan’s heart well.  

EG moves on to the semifinals against Portsmouth Wednesday evening at home. 

Aydin Kocak makes an underneath the net, reverse layup.

Jack McMullen makes a short layup for 2 of his 15 points.

Will Foster splits the key for a drive.

Dan Prior makes a short layup with Justin Salvatore blocking.

Cole Basler goes up for the layup.

Ayden Kocak makes a slam dunk.