The top two seeds in the MetroWest Draft League will face off
Jay Resto, the captain of Team Classic
The MetroWest Draft League held two rounds of its playoffs over the past two nights, and it saw a lot of chalk on the way to deciding the two teams that will face off for the winter championship on Monday.
The only “upset” that happened in the quarterfinals on Monday was the five-seed Synergy taking down the four-seed Buckets Galore 84-77. The main reason they were able to advance to the semifinals was due to the play of Garrisson Duvivier, as he led the team with 28 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-14 from the field and 13-16 from the free-throw line.
This was the only game this season that Duvivier did not record a double-double, but it didn’t affect Synergy’s chances of advancing. Their chances of advancing to the semifinals were significantly hindered, as Duvivier was absent in last night’s matchup against the one-seed Stampede.
If I was told Synergy played against Stampede without Duvivier, I would’ve guessed that they lost by 15-plus. Instead, Synergy kept it close and fell 95-92. Jake Freeman and Guy Pistone were phenomenal in the loss, as they combined to score 61 points on 27-45 (60%) shooting from the field. Unsurprisingly, it was Arinze Obiora who led Stampede to the win, as he had a season-high 36 points and added 14 rebounds and six assists.
Stampede will be taking on the two-seed Team Classic, as they took down Boriquin 83-67 in the semifinals. Team Classic got a trio of high-volume scoring, as Nate Duda (25), Spencer Aronson (25) and Jude Valmeus (23) combined to score 73 of their team’s 83 points. Captain Jay Resto provided plenty of scoring opportunities for his teammates, as he dished out 13 assists in the win.
This sets up a championship game between the two best teams in MetroWest. These teams have played twice this season, splitting the games 1-1. Both games were somewhat decided by attendance, as Team Classic won in Week 1 when Obiora was absent (26.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game this season), and Stampede won in Week 7 when Valmeus was absent (24.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this season).
Hopefully attendance will not be an issue in the championship game and we’ll see who the best team in MetroWest is.