Burlington Falls to Brighton in Division 2 North Semi-Finals

The Burlington basketball team fell 68-46 to Brighton in the Division 2 North Semi-Finals on Thursday night at Lawrence High School.

Burlington got off to a slow start with none of their shots falling from behind the arc. Brighton, on the other hand, came into the game pounding the ball inside and getting easy buckets down low and at the free-throw line.  At the halfway mark of the first period Brighton had already stretched their lead to 18-3.  Burlington tried to battle back but they needed to work extrememly hard to get any points while Brighton got easy buckets in transition or inside.

Burlington was able to rally and cut the lead to 27-13 at the end of the first.  They could not get the lead any closer than that the rest of the way.  Burlington was forced to adjust and give help defense on Brighton’s big men, which left open shooters who were able to knock down outside shots.  Burlington trailed 39-21 at the half. 

The team ultimately lost 68-46 and the game was played relatively even after Burlington staked Brighton to an 18-3 lead that they could never recover from.  Brighton was lead by center Bernadin St. Vil and point guard Kevon Young.  St. Vil was the key cog in staking Brighton to the early lead, scoring the majority of his 14 points and grabbing most of his eight boards early on.  Young knocked down shots from outside finishing with 15 points. 

For Burlington, senior Ryan Putney lead the team with 15 points playing in his final game as a Red Devil.  It was fitting for him to lead the team in his last game as he has without question been the team’s most valuable player this season.  There has been many up and down moments this season but Putney remained the teams most reliable player, scoring around 20 points a game and grabbing a handful of rebounds and dishing out assists while playing stellar defense. 

It has been a season of highlights for the Red Devils.  They had a thrilling 77-76 buzzer beater victory over Woburn early in the year.  Zach Hurynowicz became the first Burlington player since the early 1980s to top the 1,000 point mark.  They also beat rival Lexington, a consistent league power, twice in a season for the first time in nearly 20 years.  The biggest win of the season came in a thrilling 69-64 upset win in the first round of the playoffs over Salem, in which Mark Melanson hit a three pointer with 10 seconds left for the win. 

The team will graduate three seniors off the playoff roster, Putney, Steve Xu and David Whitney.  Putney will be missed dearly and will be difficult to replace and Xu and Whitney provided key depth for the team.  They are returning a lot, including two junior captains, Connor Gallivan and Melanson.  They also bring back two addition junior starters in center Joe Renaud and guard Greg Sheridan.  Two other players that made huge strides this season and should make huge leaps next year are freshman Shane Farley and Christian Morneweck. 

The Red Devils put together a great season filled with many highlights and after entering the state tournament as a 12 seed wound up one of the final four teams in Division 2 North when it was all said and done.