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King Philip head boys basketball coach Sean McInnis expressed surprise when speaking with ESPNBoston.com this afternoon, regarding the MIAA's decision this morning to move the Warriors' first round home game to a larger venue.

The 17-3 Warriors, the No. 4 seed in Division 2 South, will host No. 13 seed Whitman-Hanson on Tuesday night at Taunton High School, nearly 20 miles from their home gymnasium in Wrentham.

"This came out of the blue this morning," McInnis said. "My A.D. called me at noon today to let me know he'd been contacted by the MIAA and they moved the site."

McInnis admits he had "a strong feeling" that should they win their first-round game, the MIAA would have moved their next scheduled home game to a neutral site. The Warriors' gym is among the smallest in the 10-team Hockomock League. This season -- perhaps due in part to the star power of Maryland signee Jake Layman -- fan interest was at an all-time high, with the gym routinely reaching capacity more than an hour before tipoff.

McInnis understood, and said he would fully support, a second-round matchup getting moved, and is pretty much assured to happen following today's venue change. But getting the Warriors' first round matchup moved comes as a surprise.

"It's a shock to us," McInnis said. "Now we need to explain to all our seniors they've officially played their last home game, which to a high school senior that's a pretty big deal."

He added, "The theory is, hey, if we're going to win it all, we've got to be able to in any gym, anywhere, anytime. Now, we've been given that opportunity. But to take a 17-3 record into D2 South and to lose a home game, that's very tough."

MANSFIELD, Mass. -- The Hockomock League just got very interesting..

No. 12 King Philip held No. 10 Mansfield to just 4 points in the fourth quarter to come away with a 46-35 victory. The win marks its eighth in the league, which is the same as Franklin and Mansfield atop the league's Kelley-Rex division.

Right from the start, it was evident that Mansfield (10-5) wanted to execute its offense from the outside-in. It had little interest trying to move the ball inside against the likes of Jake Layman and John Mullane.

Initially it worked, as the Hornets got out to an early first-quarter lead. Then, over the final two minutes of the quarter, the team’s shooting touch went cold, which allowed KP (12-3) to get back in the game. Mansfield was still able to end the first up 12-9.

“I think we were pressing in the first half, pressing to get some shots up,” said KP coach Sean McInnis. “We really missed some inside shots. We came out a little nervous. We wanted to bounce back so hard from that Franklin game (a 79-66 Tuesday loss) that we were all focused.”

Mansfield stuck to its gameplan though. It continued to maneuver the ball around the perimeter trying to get that open 3-pointer. When it felt it had the KP defense sufficiently committed, it would shoot. Often Layman (17 rebounds), Mullane (13 rebounds), or Christian Fair (8 rebounds) were there to secure the misses.

“They really did shoot a lot from the outside,” said Layman. “We really buckled down on D and that’s what worked for us.”

The Maryland signee made his mark offensively as well, with 23 points to go along with his 17 boards. He put the exclamation point on his night with under two minutes left in the game when he threw down an uncontested dunk. The Mansfield defense was chasing the ball in an attempt to foul and stop the clock, and his teammates found him under the basket alone for the dunk.

“For the most part, you have to assume he’s going to get his,” said Mansfield coach Michael Vaughan. “He’s special. He’s a great player. You do everything you can to make him work hard. At times you sit there in awe of the things he does, because some of the plays he makes are just at a different level. We try to make it as hard as possible on him. His teammates rallied around him and we didn’t get many easy baskets because of it.”

The teams battled in the third quarter, with KP taking a 33-31 lead into the final frame. It was there that the combination of cold shooting and increased defensive intensity kept Mansfield at bay. KP kept them off the board for 8 minutes of gameplay while it stretched its lead.

“We came out and missed some shots early, and they had a real good gameplan,” said Vaughan. “They took away the three and they were more aggressive. They definitely didn’t let us win the rebound battle. When we’re not missing shots and not rebounding the ball, it made for a long night for us.”

Aside from the bump up in the league standings, the win had extra meaning for Layman and the other seniors.

“It’s been four long years since we beat them, so this win means a lot,” he said.

In the zone: In the second quarter, KP went to a 1-3-1 zone defense to try and control the perimeter. Layman was in the center of the defense, flanked by teammates determined to stop the likes of Michael Hershman, who had 11 points, including two 3-pointers, as well as 7 rebounds.

“Shooting from the outside is really Mansfield’s M.O.,” said McInnis. “We really studied that. We really wanted to make sure that we bounced back from that Franklin game. We regrouped, and without Tykei (Hallman) tonight, we really wanted to do some different things, like get back to our basic-type defense. When you hold a team like that to 14 second-half points, and only 4 in the fourth quarter, that’s tremendous.”

“This game needed to be below 50 points for us to win,” he added. “We wrote on our board if it was a 50-point game, we stood a good chance. But under 40? With our defense we wanted to show them different looks so they couldn’t get into a flow.”

Hockomock shuffle: With three teams now sitting atop the Kelley-Rex division of the Hockomock with eight wins, the league is still very much up for grabs. Stoughton leads the Davenport division with nine wins. That fact was not lost on either teams’ coach after the game.

“We have Brockton next, a non-league game, so we want to go over there and make a statement because that’s an important Division 1 game,” said Vaughan. “It’s an away game over there, so it’s going to be a battle. Then we go back to league games with Attleboro and Franklin in the league where we will hopefully close this out.”

“There’s nothing better than it being in your own hands,” he added. “We’re not looking for anyone else to lose, we don’t need help from anyone. If we win two, we win the league. If we don’t win two, we don’t. Hopefully we can take care of Brockton, and then Attleboro. Then it’s the big one on a Tuesday night (against Franklin). But Attleboro can beat us. If we play like we did tonight, Attleboro can give us a run for our money.

McInnis isn’t concerned with the factors he can’t control or looking too far in the future as the regular season comes to a close.

“We have to worry about ourselves,” he said. “We have to worry about improving on defense, and we just have to make sure we do a better job of getting into a flow offensively.”

WRENTHAM, Mass. -- John Gallivan remembers the first time his star point guard was in a situation like this.

The Stoughton head coach recalled two years ago when a young Aaron Calixte, at the time a freshman, went to the line needing to make one crucial free throw. Calixte promptly clanked the shot, and the Black Knights went on to lose a close one.

"I think he basically said to himself, 'That's never going to happen again'," Gallivan said.

And it hasn't. The electric 5-foot-11 junior point guard put on an offensive clinic in the first half, but was attacked for shooting fouls repeatedly by the fourth quarter. But in going 8-of-12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, he kept the No. 6 Black Knights just enough ahead to hold off No. 9 King Philip, 73-69, in a thrilling atmosphere at the Warriors' gymnasium.

"It feels good, really good," said Calixte, who finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. "We came to their home court, they had a crazy home crowd and we shut them up. We just did good, we played well."

Between KP's prized 6-foot-8 Maryland signee Jake Layman, and Calixte -- who has started to garner interest from Division 1 schools, including an offer from Towson -- this game had some considerable hype coming into it. And the billing did not disappoint, with both stars carrying their teams for stretches of this one. Calixte had 19 points by the half and several swift dishes, while Layman finished the night with 30 points and 13 rebounds.

KP (9-2) cut the Stoughton (10-1) lead to 60-56 with under three minutes to go in the contest, but the Black Knights seized control with some heads-up play on the break. First, Marcus Middleton (20 points) drew a shooting foul and sank both free throws; the next trip down, Steffan Jackson (seven points, seven rebounds) cut backdoor for a quick layup.

On the ensuing KP possession, Stoughton's Antonio Ferreira came up with a steal near midcourt, drove to the lane and delivered a behind-the-back pass to Calixte, who was taken down hard but nailed both free throws to make it a 66-58 game.

Stoughton increased its lead to 10 with under a minute to go, but the Warriors got off two quick three-pointers from Sam McDonald to make it 71-66. But Calixte hit two more free throws to ice it.

The Knights led 44-36 at the half, but just 53-52 after three quarters.

"Middleton and Calixte were tremendous tonight," said KP coach Sean McInnis. "I think they went 27 of 33 from the free throw line. Tough to beat a team like that."

Marking Layman: The key matchup tonight was how the Black Knights, who don't dress a player over 6-foot-2, were going to defend against the 6-foot-8 Layman, a returning ESPN Boston Super Teamer who has single-handedly toyed with teams at times so far this season.

The task was given first to Middleton, the team's best on-ball defender, who at 5-foot-10 gives up nearly a foot to the nation's No. 61 overall player. Reminded of this, Gallivan cracked, "It's only a foot."

Yes, Layman got his buckets, leading all scorers on the night. But Middleton covered him from end line to end line, digging his chest into the big man's midsection, keeping his hands and hips active, and generally making him labor on any movement into the painted areas.

When it wasn't Middleton pressing on Layman, Gallivan left the duties to Jackson, with Calixte rotating in with some help defense.

"Marcus is just an animal defensively," Gallivan said. "He covers everybody's best player, so why should we switch it? And the other guys helped Marcus. You can't chin Layman and expect to box him out at the same time, so the other kids helped him, kept him off the boards a few times."

McInnis conceded that Layman "worked for every point that he had."

"He's such a tremendous defender," McInnis said of Middleton. "John does such a great job with them on defense, he preaches defense, and that's exactly what we saw tonight. Middleton was tremendous on Jake, took away some of his inside game on Jake, and what happened to us is that it too Jake out of the flow of the game, where it was tough to get Jake inside because he was fighting so hard to get down there. He exhausted a lot of energy to do that."

Switch to zone hushes Warriors: In the second half, Stoughton switched to a unique 2-3 zone defense that gave the Warriors some trouble. Gallivan would surmise later that "You throw it all against the wall and you see what sticks," but this was certainly a package he'll keep in his binder.

Installed just two days prior to tonight's game, the Black Knights' zone was tight for the most part, cutting off diagonal lanes through the zone, forcing ball reversals around the perimeter and long lobs over the top to the opposite sidelines. Against the zone, the Warriors went through stretches where they settled for circumventing rather than penetrating, and it showed on the stat sheet -- KP was just 11 for 32 from the field in the second half, with seven of the baskets coming from three-point range.

Layman's buzzer-beating three to end the third quarter fired up the home crowd, as he flexed to the student section. But against the zone, those moments were too few in between.

"I think we started to feel comfortable taking those shots," McInnis said. "We felt as though the zone was open in the middle, but I think our guys saw that first look at the three and took that shot...I think some came in the flow, and some were shots that we're gonna work on in our shot selection. I think that we forced a couple up -- we took some on the first pass that we could have had two or three passes later."

WRENTHAM, Mass. -- Mansfield entered last night's showdown against Hockomock League Kelley-Rex Division rival King Philip with a clear focus -- control the boards, or else.

The Hornets did precisely that, executing coach Mike Vaughan's gameplan to near perfection. The margin wasn't huge but eight offensive boards helped a ton as No. 14 Mansfield held off the sixth-ranked Warriors for a 59-50 victory Tuesday night.

"We came into the game and said the one focus point was rebounding," said Vaughan. "If we didn’t rebound we were going to lose the game. I thought early on we set a huge tone that we were going to rebound the basketball."

That rebounding played a major role in the first half. Mansfield (2-0, 2-0 Hockomock Kelley-Rex) struggled to an 0-for-8 shooting start and watched the Warriors (1-1, 1-1) build a quick 6-0 lead before Greg Romanko knocked down a 3-pointer to get the Hornets on the board.

KP would extend its lead to 12-6 before the Hornets' board work sparked a 12-0 run, highlighted by three-pointers from senior captains Terence O'Mara (12 points, nine rebounds) and Brian Hershman (12 points, seven boards). The Warriors fought back, retaking the lead at 21-20 on a triple by Maryland-bound senior Jake Layman (game high 28 points, 10 rebounds). But sophomore Michael Hershman (nine points) answered with a three of his own, and Mansfield scored the final eight points of the half to go into the break with a 28-21 advantage.




With a talented player such as the 6-foot-8 Layman on the floor, Mansfield figured they were going to have to withstand a run at some point; and the future Terrapin found his stroke in the third. He scored all 14 of the Warriors' points in the frame, on a pair of three's, three more buckets and two free throws. The last foul shot cut the gap to one point (36-35) and the Hornets appeared to be in trouble.

"We just have to keep playing hard and sticking with our game," O'Mara said when asked about weathering the storm. "If that's what gets us in the lead then thats whats going to keep us there."

About dealing with Layman when he's in a rhythm, O'Mara added, "You just have to try and do the best you can. He's going to win some of the battles so you have to try to win the ones you can, instead of outplaying him."

Mansfield indeed held firm against what Vaughan referred to as "The Layman Show," regained its composure, and closed out the third with hoops by Brendan Hill and O'Mara sandwiched around a big 3-pointer from Brian Hershman.

"I thought in the third quarter when we got a little tired and a little foul trouble, I thought that they might get over the hump and we were going to have to fight from behind a little bit just because at that point it was the Layman show," admitted Vaughan. "We stuck with the gameplan and got a few defensive stops and that was the difference.

KP got no closer than four points from that point on as the Hornets hit most of their free throws and forced several bad possessions to walk away victorious.

"I think they outworked us. I think it's plain and simple," surmised KP coach Sean McInnis. "They just play good hardnosed basketball and they outworked us. Some of our bigs took a beating from little guards tonight. They did a nice job We had a little bit of a problem matching up here and there with them but I just think, give Mansfield all the credit on this one."

STARTING FIVE

Guard – Samir McDaniels, Sr., New Mission
The 6-foot-3 McDaniels was the steady hand that rocked the Titans' Division 2 state championship season. He averaged 18.8 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.1 steals as the Titans became the first team in MIAA history to win the Division 4 and Division 2 titles in back to back seasons. McDaniels recently committed to the University of New Haven for next fall.

Guard – Pat Connaughton, Sr., St. John’s Prep
The Notre Dame-bound Connaughton, currently ranked No. 96 in the ESPNU 100, once again saved his best performances for the postseason as the Eagles won the Division 1 state championship for the first time in school history. Connaughton averaged 21.8 points, 17 rebounds and 6.5 assists and took home the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year award. Connaughton, who will play both baseball and basketball for the Fighting Irish next year, is ranked No. 77 in Baseball America's list of Top 100 high school prospects.

Forward – Richard Rodgers, Sr., St. John’s (Shrewsbury)
Considered one of the best athletes to come out of Central Mass in the last two decades, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Rodgers was a monster in all facets of the game as the Pioneers made their fourth straight appearance in the Division 1 state final. The senior, who will continue his football career next fall at Cal as a tight end, averaged 17.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.5 blocks, 4.1 steals and 3.4 assists in his final season in Shrewsbury. He is also the son of Holy Cross defensive coordinator and former Cal great Richard Rodgers, and the cousin of Buffalo Bills cornerback Jairus Byrd.

Forward – Jake Layman, Jr., King Philip
The 6-foot-7 Layman lived up to his potential high-major billing in his junior season with the Warriors, helping them end a 15-year postseason drought and set a school single-season record for wins (17) before bowing out in the Division 2 South finals. Layman averaged 24.6 points, 13.6 rebounds, 4.6 blocks, 3.1 steals and 2.3 assists; he also took home Hockomock League MVP honors. Layman's 1,196 points at KP are the most by any boy in school history. He currently holds offers from UMass, Providence, Boston College, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Brigham Young.

Center – Jimmy Zenevitch, Sr., Central Catholic
A force in the middle the last three seasons for the Raiders, the 6-foot-7 Zenevitch lived up to the hype headed into his senior season. He closed out his career with a strong finish, averaging 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, and stretched many a defense with his ability to post up and shoot from long distance. He earned Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star nods, and his Raiders went 39-1 in MVC play the last two seasons. Zenevitch, whose older sister Kate is a freshman forward for Boston College, will continue his career next fall at Division 2 Assumption College.

BEST OF THE REST

Jaylen Alicea, Sr., Lawrence
Few had as explosive a postseason as the 5-foot-8 Alicea, who averaged 30.4 points in five playoff games as the Lancers became the first No. 15 seed since 1998 to advance to the Division 1 North final. The run included a 35-point effort in a shocking first round upset of No. 2 seed Cambridge, followed up the next game with 38 on Westford. For the season, Alicea averaged 19.3 points, four assists and three steals and earned a Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star nod.

Travonne Berry-Rogers, Sr., Lynn English
The 6-foot-1 Berry-Rogers made a name for himself as one of the North Shore's best finishers in his senior campaign, which ended in a D1 North semifinal loss to Lawrence but with some Northeastern Conference recognition. The senior, who was also an NEC All-Star in football, averaged 23.5 points, five assists and five rebounds to lead the 21-3 Bulldogs. He plans on pursuing basketball at the next level, and is considering several Division 2 and Division 3 colleges.

Joe Bramanti, Sr., Andover
The 6-foot-2 Bramanti was the Golden Warriors' prized horse in 2010-11, and they rode him to a 15-5 record and an appearance in the Division 1 North tournament. Bramanti averaged 22.3 points, six rebounds and four assists in his senior season, in which he took the Merrimack Valley Conference's MVP honors by an almost unanimous decision. Bramanti is currently looking into pursuing a post-graduate season at a prep school.

Grant Cooper, Sr., Northampton
Cooper, a 6-foot-3 forward, played an instrumental role in the Blue Devils' Division 1 Western Mass championship season, and established himself as one of the premier forwards in the western part of the state. He finished his career at Hamp on a high note, averaging 11 points, 12 rebounds, 4.5 assists this season while also posting a field goal percentage of .550.

Marco Coppola, Sr., Watertown
The 6-foot-1 Coppola was instrumental to the Raiders' run to their third Division 3 state title game in six seasons, and also pitched in tremendously on the defensive end -- before losing to Whitinsville Christian in the state championship, they held their previous four opponents in the 30's. Coppola was Eastern Mass' leading scorer, averaging 25.1 points per game, and finishes fourth all-time on the school's scoring list, behind his older brother Anthony, Max Kerman and Kyle Stockmal. Coppola is currently undecided on college plans, but is leaning heavily towards Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Mark Cornelius, Sr., Westford
The 6-foot-2 Cornelius was a scoring machine this season for the Grey Ghosts, winning the Dual County League scoring title with an average of 21.1 points per game, and was co-MVP of the league. He saved arguably his best performance for last, getting 33 points and 23 rebounds in a loss to Lawrence in a Division 1 North quarterfinal. Also a standout wide receiver for the football team, Cornelius is undecided on college plans.

Alex Gartska, Sr., Westfield
One of the state's sharpest shooters, the 6-foot-1 guard averaged 19.7 points, three rebounds and two assists per game as the Bombers marched to a 20-3 record and an appearance in the Division 1 Western Mass final against Northampton. Gartska, who was recently named the MassLive/Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural Western Mass Player of the Year, finished his career at Westfield with 1,172 career points. He is currently undecided on college plans.

Steve Haladyna, Jr., St. John’s Prep
The 6-foot-3 junior was the Pippen to Pat Connaughton's Jordan on this year's squad, but that proved to be a pivotal role in the Eagles' first basketball state championship season. In 2010-11, he averaged 19.7 points and seven rebounds as the Eagles battled through the toughest Division 1 North bracket in recent memory.

John Henault, Sr., St. Bernard’s
The Bernardians ended their season on a sour note with a shocking upset by Oxford in the Division 2 Central tournament, but the 6-foot-2 Henault ends his career on Harvard Street on a positively high one. He leaves St. B's as the school's all-time leading scorer (1,682 points) and led the state in scoring average (27.8 points) this season. He also racked up over 600 rebounds, 200 assists and 170 steals in his four-year career with the Bernardians. Henault is currently considering several Division 2 and 3 colleges.

Mike Lofton, Sr., Mansfield
With such a unique skill set, the 6-foot-4 senior played anywhere from point guard to power forward this year for the Hockomock League champions, and excelled in every role. Lofton averaged 13.5 points, 11 rebounds. 4.5 assists and 2.7 steals this season for the 24-3 Hornets, who won a wide-open Division 1 South before falling to eventual state champ St. John's Prep on the TD Garden floor. Lofton is currently considering several Division 2 and 3 schools.

Akosa Maduegbunam, Jr., Charlestown
In 25 games this season for the Townies, the 6-foot-4 slasher averaged 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals as they captured their first Boston City title since 2006. in his two seasons at Charlestown, he has averaged 20.5 points, seven rebounds and three assists. A two-time City all-star, Maduegbunam was also named the City tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Hans Miersma, Sr., Whitinsville Christian
Few teams in the state could match up with the Crusaders' size this season, and none was more pivotal than the 6-foot-9 Miersma. He averaged 14.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks as the Crusaders captured their first Division 3 state title since 2005. The first team All-Dual Valley Conference center will continue his playing career next fall at Gordon College.

Joe Mussachia, Sr., Manchester-Essex
The 6-foot-6, Amherst College-bound forward excelled in a multitude of roles for the Hornets, who won the Cape Ann League and advanced all the way to the Division 4 North semifinals. Mussachia averaged 25.2 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks, and finishes as the school's all-time leading scorer (1,714 points). For his career at M-E, he averaged 20.9 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Jarrod Neumann, Jr., Northampton
The 6-foot-3 guard/forward helped to form Western Mass's most intimidating, swarming defenses, as the Blue Devils marched all the way to a 21-3 record and the Division 1 Central/West Final, where they lost to state runner-up St. John's of Shrewsbury. For the season, Neumann averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds. Barring the unexpected, Neumann should return next fall as one of the MIAA's top 2012 prospects.

Kachi Nzerem, Sr., New Mission
As one part of the Titans' three-headed monster of a backcourt, the 6-foot-5 Nzerem was a physical force around the rim. He averaged 17.1 points and 6.1 rebounds as the Titans became the first MIAA squad in history to win the Division 4 and Division 2 titles in back to back seasons. Nzerem is considering pursuing a post-graduate season at several prep schools.

Keandre Stanton, Jr., Lynn English
It was quite the breakout season for the 6-foot-6 Stanton, a Northeastern Conference All-Star who turned in a monster junior campaign to establish himself as one of the state's best pure athletes on the blocks. He averaged 19.5 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks and achieved 10 triple-doubles on the season for the 21-3 Bulldogs, who advanced all the way to the D1 North semifinals before bowing out to Lawrence.

Jacquil Taylor, Soph., Cambridge
At 6-foot-8, the sophomore was one of the state's most imposing forces in the paint. He has started every game in his two years on the Falcons' varsity, and has only blossomed under head coach Lance Dottin; after averaging nearly a double-double as a freshman (nine points, 10 rebounds), he turned in an even more impressive sophomore season, with 13.5 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.8 blocks as the Falcons won the Greater Boston League outright for the second year in a row. He has already amassed 166 blocks in his young career (including over 100 this year), and is a two-time GBL All-Star.

Noah Vonleh, Soph., Haverhill
Ranked the No. 23 overall player nationally in the Class of 2013 by ESPN, the 6-foot-7 Vonleh came into the season with a load of hype, and lived up to it in spite of the Hillies' struggles to a 7-13 record this season. Vonleh averaged 18.4 points, 17 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks and earned Merrimack Valley Conference All-Star recognition. Kansas, Pitt and Boston College are among the early offers for Vonleh, but expect that list to get quite lengthy over the next six months.

COACH OF THE YEAR: SEAN CONNOLLY, ST. JOHN'S PREP
Yes, one of the North Shore's all-time schoolboy greats has had one of New England's top senior talents to work with the last three seasons. But this season, which culminated in the program's first state championship, was all about the role players. And between Steve Haladyna, Freddy Shove, Isaiah Robinson, Mike Carbone and Owen Marchetti, this season was about a different player stepping up every night to ease the load off superstar Pat Connaughton. For that, and to survive one of the most loaded Division 1 North brackets in recent history, Connolly deserves some credit.

RUNNERS-UP:
1. Paul Neal, Lawrence
2. Cory McCarthy, New Mission

FINALISTS:
Bill Daley, Westfield
Paul DiGeronimo, Fitchburg
Rey Harp, Northampton
Rick Kilpatrick, Acton-Boxborough
Sean McInnis, King Philip
Duane Sigsbury, Manchester-Essex
Malcolm Smith, East Boston

ALL-DEFENSIVE
G – Joe Bramanti, Sr., Andover
G – Luis Puello, Jr., Central Catholic
G – Akosa Maduegbunam, Jr., Charlestown
F/C – Jacquil Taylor, Soph., Cambridge
C – John Swords, Sr., Lincoln-Sudbury

ALL-SHOOTERS
Pat Connaughton, Sr., St. John's Prep
Marco Coppola, Sr., Watertown
Alex Gartska, Sr., Westfield
John Henault, Sr., St. Bernard's
Jake Laga, Sr., Northampton

ALL-FRESHMAN
G – Jonathan Joseph, Brockton
G – Tyler Nelson, Central Catholic
G – Damion Smith, West Roxbury
F – Drew Shea, Medfield
F – Aaron Falzon, Newton North

BEST FANS
1. Northampton
2. St. John's (Shrewsbury)
3. Newton North
4. Central Catholic
5. St. John's Prep

(NOTE: Some headshots were provided by ESPN's Adam Finkelstein, courtesy of his New England Recruiting Report)

BOSTON -- With the seconds counting down and a tie ball game, Barrett Hanlon stepped up to the three-point arc along the left wing and let it fly, only to watch the long ball hit nothing but air, and then cringe as one of his Hopkinton teammates picked up a foul on King Philip's Harry Washington with no time expired.

"I was overwhelmed, you could say," Hanlon chuckled. "I thought I had lost the game for us."

To the luck of the white-clad Hopkinton faithful on hand at UMass-Boston's Clark Athletic Center, and the vocal dismay of the KP supporters directly across from them, the foul call was overturned after a discussion between the three referees. The second chance was one that the senior Hanlon didn't take for granted, as the Hillers outlasted King Philip in the overtime, 69-60, erase a double-digit first half deficit and capture the Division 2 South title.

Hanlon (18 points) nailed two crucial baskets in the overtime period to make it a two-possession game. First, with 1:50 left in the extra frame, he crashed through the lane with a floater to give the Hillers (20-3) a 57-56 lead. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Hanlon came up with a steal in the press, and then laid it in easily for a 59-56 advantage. From there, the Hillers never looked back; Wesley Erickson (16 points) nailed key free throws as the Warriors (17-9) went into a fouling strategy with under a minute to go in the frame.

"We were the higher seed, but we went after it like we were underdogs, like we have all year," Hopkinton head coach Tom Keane said. "We've played three tough Hockomock teams in a row now (Stoughton, Oliver Ames and KP), and so I'm also proud of the TVL (Tri-Valley League). I think we have a lot of good teams you don't often hear about. But I'm proud of my guys, and I'm proud of our league."

While it probably showed up frivolous on the play-by-play, Hiller players admitted a momentum swing in the buzzer-beating three-pointer landed by 6-foot-7 senior big man Jake Doucette just before the close of the first half, cutting KP's advantage to 27-21.

And then in the second half, Doucette proved his mettle against one of the state's premier forwards, KP junior forward Jake Layman. Layman (24 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks) found ways to assert himself in other areas of the game -- especially around the rim -- as he struggled to a 7 for 20 night from the field. Doucette called the matchup "a lot of fun", and a matchup he was "absolutely" looking forward to.

"I knew he's a shooting guard, he shoots all the time outside, so I wanted to pressure him outside and make him go down low," said Doucette, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. "And sure enough he did, numerous times in the game, and he was good down low. I just wanted to play him as hard as I can, and focus on that aspect of the game, because I have plenty of offensive players around me who can succeed no matter what."

Layman's older brother, 6-foot-6 senior Connor (15 points, eight rebounds), meanwhile found his own struggles on the floor that may affect his immediate future. With 1:20 to go in regulation, Connor stepped up to the right block and took a charge from Doucette. On the ensuing possession, he fed Christian Fair with a nice dish from the wing, and after the junior kissed the glass with a baseline drive, Connor tapped out to the bench, where he sat for the rest of the game icing his left wrist.

"We're going to wait and see, we're going to get him to the hospital," KP head coach Sean McInnis said. "We'll see what happened with that, but that wrist really took a good snap."