Charlie Breitrose Watertown senior Adam Patterson and the Raiders earned the second seed in the MIAA Div. 3 Boys Basketball State Tournament.
Friday evening the Watertown High School Gym will be the place to see some of the top basketball teams in the state in action. Both the boys and girls teams will host first round games in the MIAA Div. 3 State Tournament.
Watertown, the seventh seed in the girls’ bracket, faces Greater Lowell Tech at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 4; and the boys — the No. 2 seed in their bracket — will take on with winner of Apponequet and Medway at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Girls Team
The girls finished the season with a 16-6 record and shared the Middlesex League Freedom Division title. The seventh seeding means Watertown would host the Round of 16 game, too, but would have to hit the road for the Round of 8 if they play a higher seed.
The Raiders won one game in the past two tournaments they played in – 2019 and 2020 (2021 was cancelled). They hope to go farther with 1,000-point scorer Taylor Lambo leading the team in scoring.
Boys Team
As the second seed, the Raiders would host all their games through the Round of 8. The boys squad finished with a record of 13-7 and benefited in the MIAA’s ranking formula from playing in the tough Middlesex League.
Watertown knows that it cannot take home court advantage for granted, having been knocked out of the last two state tournaments at the WHS Gym. In 2020, the Raiders lost in the second round at home to Hamilton-Wenham, and in 2019 Weston beat Watertown in the first round.
Watertown has had some recent postseason success. In 2018, a seventh seeded Watertown team won the State title. Last year there was no state tournament, but the Raiders won the Middlesex League Tournament.