The Chelsea High boys basketball team’s tournament run ended swiftly Monday evening with a 68-42 defeat at the hands of Marblehead in the Division 2 North Sectional of the MIAA state basketball tournament.
Seeded 18th in the D-2 North bracket with a 10-10 record, the Red Devils faced a Marblehead squad that came in as the 15th seed sporting an 11-9 mark. The visitors from Chelsea found themselves unable to recover from a disastrous first half, during which Marblehead built a commanding 47-11 lead. The height advantage Marblehead possessed proved insurmountable, even though Chelsea mounted a stronger second-half effort, outscoring their opponents 31-21 after intermission and 16-11 in the third quarter alone.
CHS head coach Jay Seigal attributed the loss to an early-game disparity in readiness. “fblikebutton_button” Marblehead came out fired up in front of its home crowd and was more ready to play than we were,”fblikebutton_button” he explained. The coach noted that “fblikebutton_button”Our Achilles heel all season has been our slow starts in many of our games. Sometimes you can overcome them, but in the state tourney against a quality opponent, you have to be ready to go from the opening tip.”fblikebutton_button” Eric Flores led Chelsea’s scoring with 11 points.
Despite the tournament’s early conclusion, Seigal highlighted the team’s accomplishment in reaching the postseason, which followed a late-season victory over Division 1 Lexington. The Red Devils will lose seniors Oscar Sabillon, Jorge Ramos, Eric Martinez, Carlos Vega, Freddie Ortiz, and Abdala Bana. “fblikebutton_button”We had a lot of high notes this season,”fblikebutton_button” Seigal noted. “fblikebutton_button”We’ll miss the seniors who’ll be leaving us (Oscar Sabillon, Jorge Ramos, Eric Martinez, Carlos Vega, Freddie Ortiz, and Abdala Bana), but we have a strong nucleus of players coming back for next year.”fblikebutton_button”