Photo Credit: Aditya Sinha

Senior Dominic Tully blocks a shot attempt by an SHP player.

Basketball let the cheering crowd down this Friday night with a tough loss against crosstown rival Sacred Heart Prep.

The Bears started off strong in the first quarter with some standout rebounds under the basket by senior Dominic Tully. Sacred Heart was slow in the beginning, making multiple travels in the face of the Bears’ fiery defense, but the Gators did force many turnovers from the Bears. With the score close, senior Ian Proulx shot a beautiful three-pointer to end the first quarter and put M-A in the lead.

Starting off the second quarter, the M-A 6th Man got riled up as Tully blocked a shot taken by a Sacred Heart player from right under the basket. But SHP took the ball down the court with aggressive speed and continued to fire back at every shot M-A made, keeping the game close. With M-A’s defense keeping up the good work, junior Alex Aguiar made a great steal, followed by yet again more rebounds from Tully. As the second quarter came to a close, the game started to roughen up, with some intense fouls happening on the court.

Starting off the second half, an injured Proulx carried the ball down the court, forcing for a foul. With several such fouls called on M-A, SHP was able to rack up basket after basket and soon take a lead of 10 points.

SHP’s strong defense caused M-A’s multiple turnovers that proved key to M-A’s loss. Yet Ian Proulx brought the 6th man back to its feet as he shot yet another three-pointer, while Dominic Tully brought it back with a great shot under the basket from a pass-off from senior Max Culhane. Other plays that threatened the Gators’ dominance came from sophomore Royce Branning and senior point guard Miles Weiss.

As the game came to a close, in the last minute, the 6th Man filled the gym with the cheer of “Spoiled Rich Kids,” showing that they still had some cheer in them. Yet SHP came out on top with a final score of 58-42.