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VIDEO: Zuheily Rivera of Keefe Tech hustles for a basket in playoffs
Keefe Tech junior Zuheily Rivera, who scored a team-high 10 points, hustled for a basket as the Broncos mounted a late comeback in a playoff loss to Fenway.
FRAMINGHAM – They let out one final cheer – Broncos! – in the locker room before heading back to the court one final time. They picked up chairs and lugged them away, breaking down the basketball court – with tears in their eyes.
“It shows they care,” said their coach, his own pupils misty.
Few could have imagined the scenario two months – or five years – ago.
Keefe Tech, in its first home girls basketball playoff game in 20 years and first varsity season since 2017-18, fouled out two starters and faced a seven-point deficit with three minutes to play. Yet with a post player bringing the ball up the court and a senior captain less than 100% due to illness, the Broncos surrounded coach Ken Collins with a chance to tie Tuesday’s game in the final minute.
But two possessions in last 40 seconds resulted in a missed shot and a steal by Fenway’s Ali Santiago as the visitors from Boston earned a 30-24 Division 5 preliminary-round victory.
“They’re upset,” Collins said of his players. “They didn’t get this opportunity the last couple of years. We fought till the end.”
The No. 29 Broncos trailed 27-20 before baskets by Zuheily Rivera and Kyla Bilton pulled them to within three points with 1 minute and 33 seconds left. Nychelle Jaramillo secured a defensive rebound at the other end to put Keefe in position to tie the game.
But after point guard Rivera, who made several hustle plays and scored a team-high 10 points, fouled out, Jaramillo took over the 1-guard spot and looked comfortable in the role. But after Santiago’s steal, the No. 36 Panthers (9-7) held on.
Keefe had trouble containing the post moves of 5-foot-9 senior center Niko Hamilton, who led all players with 18 points.
“We struggled covering 24 (Hamilton) down low,” Collins said. “And we got in foul trouble.”
The Broncos have fielded only a junior varsity team due to low numbers the past six seasons, but finish the year with a 12-5 record as senior captains Maggie Steiner and Elly Teixeira leave the program in good shape.
Keefe lost Ari Carbino to a concussion early in Tuesday’s game, but that led to capable minutes for Dairan Contreras, who played junior varsity most of the season and scored two points vs. Fenway.
Estella Teixeira had four points for Keefe.
“I’m proud of where we are as a program,” Collins said. “They deserve to be in this position tonight. I feel good about it.”
The coach is already looking ahead to next season.
“Central Mass is going to pods next year instead of the league,” he said. “We’re going to play better teams. That’s what we want. We want to compete so we can win a game like this and be ready for it.
“Didn’t happen today.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
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