EMASS FINAL: Watertown’s Tourney Run Ends at The Garden

BOSTON – The Watertown High School’s boys basketball team take the big stage on Monday afternoon Eastern Mass. final – a place familiar to the Raiders but not for their opponent, Hanover.

This is the Raider’s 10th trip to the TD Garden to play in the state semifinals, but before this year the Indians had never even reached the South Section final.

Follow the game live here. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

Game over. Watertown’s Elian Guerrero scores 2. Final Hanover 46, Watertown 40.

15.7 left, Boise of Hanover fouled. misses both.

19.5 left, Robert Danielian makes 3 for Watertown. 46-38 Hanover.

30.0 left fourth, Landry fouled, makes first. Watertown putting in reserves.  Hanover. Landry makes second. 46-35 Hanover.

54.9 left, Watertown misses a three. Landry fouled. Makes both. 44-35 Hanover.

1:15 left, Hanover’s Freddie Damon fouled. Makes first, misses second. 42-35 Hanover.

1:15 left, Watertown’s Julio Fulcar hits a jumper and is fouled. Makes the freebie. 41-35 Hanover.

1:28 left, Hanover’s Zach Chase fouled. Misses first, hits second. 41-32 Hanover.

2:36 left fourth, Korte gets a short finger roll. 40-32 Hanover.

2:59 left, Delahunt hits 3 for Hanover. 40-30 Hanover.

3:34 left, Watertown’s Chase fouled on rebound. Makes both. 37-30 Hanover.

3:56 left, Hanover’s Landry fouled, misses first, makes second. 37-28 Hanover.

3:59 left, Hanover time out, has ball. The Indians are on a 12-0 run.

4:55 left, Hanover’s Flynn fouled. Makes both. 36-28 Hanover

5:20 left, Korte fouled. Misses both. Still down 6.

5:54 left fourth, Delahunt fouled while shooting, misses first, makes second. 34-28 Hanover.

6:55 left, Flynn misses front end of 1 and 1 for Hanover.

7:18 left, Delahunt hits a three for Hanover. 33-28 Hanover.

7:44 left fourth quarter, Hanover’s Steve Simon scores 2, picks up a foul on Korte (his fourth). Missed the free throw. 30-28 Hanover.

End of third quarter. Watertown 28, Hanover 28.

26.3 left, Hanover’s Boise fouled, makes both. 28-28

2:05 left, Flynn for 2 for Hanover. 28-26 Watertown.

3:00 left, Korte from downtown for 3. Watertown up 28-24.

3:31 left, Landry hits a 3 for Hanover. 25-24 Watertown.

4:15 left, Hairston scores deep and is fouled but misses the free throw. Then Isaac Huff scores a three. 25-21 Watertown.

4:32 left, Korte called for a charge on one end, Julio Fulcar draws one on the other.

5:31 left, Delahunt fouled, makes both. 21-20 Hanover.

5:41 left, Korte fouled on a shot, makes both. Watertown up 20-19

5:52 left, Patrick Flynn scores for Hanover. 19-18 Hanover.

7:42 left third quarter, Landry lays one in for Hanover. 18-17 Watertown.

4:42 p.m.: The Watertown girls basketball team was honored at halftime with the MIAA’s Sportsmanship Award!

Halftime: Watertown 18, Hanover 15. Korte leads scoring with 14. Hairston and Chase each have 2.

28 seconds left, Korte gets a rebounds and scores. 18-15 Watertown.

1:25 left, Korte breaks drought with a three from the top of the key. Watertown leads 16-15.

3:33 left. Both teams struggling to score. Still 15-13

4:26 left, Deluhunt buries a jumper. 15-13 Hanover.

5:50 left, Aaron Boise scores 2 for Hanover, but Korte gets 3. tied 13-13

6:55 left second quarter, Watertown’s Vondre Chase gets 2 from 5 feet out. 11-10 Hanover.

End of first. Hanover 11, Watertown 8. Korte had 6, and Hairston 2.

1:04 left, Jayden Hairston drives for 2 for Watertown. 11-8 Watertown.

2:06 left, Korte lays one in. But misses a dunk next time down. Hanover’s Delahunt scores 2. 11-6 Hanover.

2:23 left, a missed Raiders layup turns into a layup for Hanover’s Delahunt. 9-4 Hanover.

2:53 left, Landry makes a long 2 for Hanover. Watertown can’t score on its end. 7-4 Hanover

3:46 left, Patrick Flynn goes to the line for Hanover and misses both.

4:01 left, Kortes fouled while shooting. Makes both. 5-4 Hanover

4:28 left, John Korte lays one in. 5-2 Hanover. Then Hanover travels.

5:07 left, Watertown struggling to get shots to go.

6:24 left, JT Landry scores for Hanover. 5-0

7:30 left first, Hanover’s Matt Delahunt scores a three pointer. Up 3-0 on Watertown.

4:04 p.m. – Team being introduced. Almost game time!

3:56 p.m. – Raiders are warming up for the game against Hanover.Game is tipping off in about 10 minutes.

Preview

Watertown coach Steve Harrington said the team has gelled during the State Tournament.

“We used our defense to get wins early in the season,” Harrington said. “But now our offense has caught up. We’re hitting shots and that’s making us a tough team to beat right now.”

This year, Watertown has been lead by three players – junior center John Korte (the Middlesex Freedom MVP), junior point guard Julio Cesar and sophomore guard Vondre Chase. Korte had 29 points in the Section Quarter against North Reading, while Fulcar had over 20 points in all three tourney games including 27 against Bedford in the Section Final. During their playoff run, the Raiders have also gotten contributions from it’s two senior forwards, Jayden Hairston on the boards and defense and Isaac Huff from behind the three-point arc.

Hanover beat Norwell in the South Section final to reach the Garden for the first time in their team’s history. The Indians are lead by junior guard J.P. Landry and junior forward Matt Delahunt, who both have averaged point totals in the double figures during tournament play. Senior guard Zachary Chase has also contributed.

Watertown last played at the Garden in 2014, when it fell to Cardinal Spellman. Three years earlier, the Raiders beat the same opponent to reach the State Final. Watertown lost that year, but won State Titles in 2007 and 2009.