All three league playoff basketball games were close matches that tied before one team pulled away for a championship win. 

For the fourth year in a row, Marion and Mattapoisett Recreation Departments teamed up to offer three leagues, one for girls grades three to six, one for boys grades three and four and one for boys grades five and six.

Girls grade three to six Basketball final had team Mercury coached by Joel Watters and T.J. Harkins against Team Lynx coached by Kirk Bosma.

Mercury took an early lead to go up 4 to 0 in first quarter, but Lynx rallied to tie the game at end of the first half.

Both teams played hard after the break and the score was tied 10-10 with 6 minutes left in the game.

However, team Lynx finished strong to win 17-10. Sophia Anesti was the high scorer for Mercury with 4 points and McCayla Dupont led the Lynx with 9 points.

The boys Grade three and four league playoff game had the Celtics coached by Michael Devoll and Jill Paquette against the Warriors coached by Jen Porter and Lindsey Harding.

The game was a defensive battle with score tied at 4-4 at the half.  Both teams came out strong in the 2nd half and score was tied 11-11 at the buzzer.

Overtime had Grady Oliveira scoring to put the Warriors ahead. Hunter Horsey then went to the foul line for the Celtics and sunk 2 to tie the game at 13-13.

Wyatt Harding hit a foul shot to put the Warriors up by one, but Horsey went 2 for 2 at the line Celtics up 15-14. Harding hit another foul shot to tie it again, but Horsey scored with 4 seconds remaining  and Celtics won 17-15.

Hunter Horsey was high scorer for the Celtics with 7 points and Grady Oliveira and Charlie Higgins were the high scorers for the Warriors with 4 points each.

The boys fifth and sixth grade Tri-town basketball playoffs also had the Celtics coached by Shane Mills against the Warriors coached by Rich Gordon and Brett Fortin. Pro team names were common this season.

The Celtics lead 3-2 at the end of the first quarter, but the Warriors rallied to go up 10-9 at the half.

The Celtics came out strong in the 2nd half and were up 23-12 at the end of the third quarter.  The leading team held on to win 29-19.

High scorers for the Warriors were Talbot Lown with 10 points and Logan Pinto with 4 points. The Celtics were led by Brock Winslow with 12 points and Tanner Wright with 8 points. 

“We had a great season,” said Mattapoisett Recreation Department Director, Greta Fox. “We had more players in all three leagues than we ever had before.”

The league totaled over two hundred players this year. Each of the boys leagues had seven teams, and the girls program had sixty players.

On the court, the girls coaches rotate the players out so that they only play their own age. 

“Now that we’ve combined, there’s more teams, so they aren’t playing with the same kids each week,” Fox explained.

She credits the volunteer coaches for making the program happen.

Though the teams practice in all tri-town gyms, Fox said that players especially love playing the final game at the high school to hear their name called over the loudspeaker.