The Staples boys’ basketball team was stunned in their home gym on March 16, dropping the first round FCIAC playoff matchup 56-53 to Bassick. The Wreckers came into the affair as the third seed, while the underdogs, Bassick, were the 14 seed.

With just seven seconds left, captain Derek Sale ’22 pulled in a rebound with the Wreckers down three points. Sale stormed down the court and hoisted up what would’ve been a game tying three ball, but the shot came up just short.

The loss concludes the team’s campaign with a 10-2 regular season record and an 0-1 playoff record.

Staples was quiet in the first half, trailing by as much as 16 points in the second quarter. Bassick maintained this lead for the duration of the contest, going up strong early and not taking their foot off the pedal. The Wreckers struggled from the perimeter, uncharacteristically knocking down just four three-pointers.

“I think that we haven’t done a great job of hitting outside shots this season,” Caleb Tobias ’22 said, “so by getting inside and forcing fouls to be called just makes us more efficient and dangerous on offense.”

While the Wreckers offense struggled in the first half, their defense allowed them to crawl back in it late. The Wreckers cut a 16 point fourth quarter deficit to just two through fast breaks and high energy basketball. Late in the second half, possible FCIAC coach of the year, Colin Devine, moved into a press defense, resulting in multiple forced turnovers.

“We practice our press a lot,” captain Sean Clarke ’21 said. “It is tough for an opposing team to adjust to, especially when we wait for later in the game to bring it out.”

While the Wreckers season came to an earlier than expected conclusion, the season was definitely not one to dwell on.

“We started off hot, but it didn’t end the way we expected,” captain Lucas Basich ’21 said. “It was still great to be able to go out there and compete. It was a fun game.”