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FINAL SCORE, 83-52

The day started out horribly, with a million mile backup at the bridge. We ended up back-tracking and going in through Providence, a bad omen. Sabis then came here on a mission and shot the ball better than you can imagine. They were more athletic, stronger and played like they wanted it from the get-go. They deserved this.

Hats off to the Clippers. This year was amazing, today aside. There are some long faces right now as they get the runner-up trophy and medals, but they did an amazing job in 2010. Some day they’ll recall this ride with a smile, just not today.

1:20 4q, 81-46
Seniors in the game: DK Johnson, David Kent, Alessio Tranchell, COdy Smith and Trevor Andrews

3:27 4q, 76-44 Sabis
Coach for Sabis calling off the dogs. Starters out, hugs doled out.

5:47 4q, 72-42
For the record, I’ve got Manny Pacquio tonight in eight over Clottey. Also I like Georgetown to win the Big East tourney.

Start 4q, 65-40 Sabis
Well FHS did end the quarter strong and put up two more points in the 3rd than they did in the first half, so that was positive. There’s just not a lot of time left. We’re approaching act of God territory.

2:00 3q, 65-34
I hope there’s a Starbucks nearby. That would be good. Maybe a place to grab a quick bite to eat.

5:30 3q, 57-23

Sabis hit an unreal alley-oop to start the quarter, so there’s that. King’s at 31 now.

Halftime, 50-19 Sabis
Andre King is the king. The guy is just lighting it up, knocking down threes from everywhere, and not touching any net at all. He had 12 points in the last 3:06 and 28 points in the half. The guy is insane. Falmouth has no answers at all. It’s a lot like the Whitman-Hanson game, just the complete opposite.

2:05 2q, 42-16 Sabis
It’s getting out of hand. Falmouth is falling apart. I can’t sugarcoat it, nothing good is happening. Sabis’ fans are yelling “We can’t hear you” and there’s a reason, the FHS fans have nothing to cheer for right now. No fun to be found here right now.

5:15 2q, 36-12 Sabis

Not pretty. Nelly is physically frustrated and was lifted for a cool down. FHS is turning it over and Sabis is shooting lights out

7:11 2q, 29-12 Sabis
Quick 5-0 run to start the quarter. Lavin hit a hook and then Nelly dialed up a 3. DK is playing, and hasn’t left the floor. He looks tentative, but he’s going as hard as he can. It’s not out of reach, but they need to get this down to 10.

Start 2nd Q, 29-7 Sabis

The first quarter went horribly for the team, and my computer. I finally got a working connection, hopefully they will now too.

11:30 AM

Just getting everything set up so that the posts are ready to fly later. Leaving for lovely Worcester, on this beautiful Saturday morning in 90 minutes.

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
62-55, Lavin 25, Nelly 25. Gotta write now.

33 seconds left, 60-51
“Warm up the broom, warm up the broom, warm up the broom.”
Airball 3 by Salem. Lavin -1of-2
“Nah-nah-nah-nah….”

43 seconds left, 58-51
Nelly 23 points. Lavin 22. Holding on. They won’t die, but the flat line is drawing near.

1:18 left, 55-49 FHS
Salem won’t die. There best scorer, Reyes (22 points) just fouled out, but then Medrano nailed a 3. It aint easy, but hey, FHS has been great second half.

1:29 left, FHS 53-46
More of the same, FHS keeps going to the line and holding back Salem, which won’t go away, but hasn’t been able to score inside all night. Lavin, 20 points in 2nd half and he’s got to have at least 15 rebounds. He’s been a beast. Closing in on it folks, closing in.

3:24 left, 48-41
Salem missing free throws, but hitting 3’s. FHS offense all at line right now. Trev Andrews just hit 1-of-2, it’s getting tense.

4:19, FHS 45-37
Quick 5-0 run out of timeout for Salem. Nelly went to line for 1and1, hit both

5:25, 43-32
Salem just missed two free throws, Lavin rebound, outlet to Nelly, fly coast to coast lay-up. Timeout Salem. It’s getting close. Tale of two halves for sure.

6:55 4th, FHS 37-30
Not much to start quarter, just wanted to keep you guys updated.

End 3, Falmouth 37-29

That’s what the heck I’m talkin’ bout. Lavin scored 16 in the third. He put them on his back and carried them to the lead. Salem scored a bucket with a second left to get the deficit to eight. Right now FHS is feeling it. Eight minutes from the state championship game and the EMass title. Good stuff. Be proud of the way that team just responded. It’s unreal.

4:12 left 3rd, FHS 26-22
Can I interest you in a 12-2 run to start the second half? Lavin is a monster right now, he just hit a little baseline float from Cody Smith to force a full timeout by Salem. Totally different feel from FHS right now. Glad they didn’t mail it in.

LAAAVIN
Hey welcome to game Johnny Lavin. FHS 9-2 run to take lead, 23-22. Lavin seven points, 3 blocks, 3 rebounds. He heard me.

Halftime Still
DK’s not coming back. He might be good for Saturday if they can pull this one off, but not tonight. They need to pick up the captain tonight. Let’s see who does it. This game is still there for the taking, they just need to take it.

Halftime, 20-14 Salem
The bad news, FHS is down and DK is hurt. The good news, they’re still in this game and they really have no right to be. FHS shot awfully, didn’t rebound all that well and still are down just six. Salem is hardly setting the world ablaze either.

This isn’t exactly how they would have scripted this thing, but this game is hardly out of reach. FHS needs John Lavin to assert himself. He had just one bucket in the first half, a put-back at the end of the half. If they can get him going they’ve got a good shot to steal this one.

2:11 2nd, 20-11 Salem
Turnovers are killing FHS, 11 so far. DK out of the game still nursing ankle. He came back briefly, but its still hurting him. Horrible start.

End 1Q, 9-4 Salem
Ugly first quarter. Falmouth hit its first shot, a 3 by Nelly, and didn’t add another. The other point was an Andrew McGill free throw. DK came back with about two minutes to go. Defensively FHS is fine, but they aren’t adapting to the feel of the room at all. Hopefully they got over the nerves.

6:18 PM
3-3 early. DK Johnson injured his ankle. I’ll keep you apraised.

6:10 PM
Falmouth starters: Guards: DK Johnson and Nelson Baptiste. Forwards: Alessio Tranchell and David Kent. Center: John Lavin.

6:05 PM
Watching the kids warm up for both teams is funny. They’re obviously enjoying it, pointing to people in the crowd and they’ve all got Kool-Aid smiles. Salem’s coaching staff is cracking me up, they’re all wearing warm-up suits, like the players. Hey guys, you’re adults, how about a shirt and tie? They are nice Jordan warm-ups though.

We’re about a minute from intros and then time to play some ball. Can’t wait.

5:55 PM
Looks like we’re going to be running a few minutes behind. Wareham is getting the EMass trophy right now and is about to do their team photo. The floor is just being cleaned and then Clippers and Witches (I giggle every time I say it) will be warming up. I expect a tip-off closer to 6:15 PM or so.

5:30 PM
We are here. Actually we’ve been here for about 40 minutes but I couldn’t get on-line to save my life, and to tell you the truth I’m still not sure how I did. But, now that that is over we’re watching hoops.

Wareham and Bedford are going at it right now with the Vikings leading 53-44 with about five minutes to go. I’ve been wanting to see this Wareham team all year and I’ll tell you what, they are athletic. A little small, but they can shoot and they can run. Just saw a great alley-oop dunk a few moments ago. You don’t get a whole lot of those in high school games.

It’s cool here. They’ve got the games being broadcast on the scoreboard with replays and everything. I’m sitting about 10 feet from the baseline and I’m worried that at some point a player is going to be in my lap. But, in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the view and the experience.

12:45 PM
Hey, Rich here. Donnie and I will be taking off for Beantown in a few hours for the biggest game of the year so far. I will be updating throughout the game, so make sure to check back here throughout if you’re not heading to the Garden yourself.

Que Dropkick Murphys …

I can’t even fathom how excited the Falmouth High School boys’ basketball team must be right now as they eat their pregame meal at The Burrito Place in East Falmouth. How do you even make it through a day of school when you know that at 6 PM — less than 24 hours from now — you’ll be playing at The Boston Garden? It’s got to be mind-numbing, but it’s reality for the Clippers.

Tickets are available at Falmouth High School for $8. Tickets at TD Boston Garden will cost $13.

Personally I’m pretty psyched about the big game. I know nothing about Salem, other than that they were the No. 7 seed in the north and got hot at the right time. They have two scorers and they like to get up and down the court.

Salem probably thinks that they’re a team of destiny, but so does Falmouth. Someone ends tomorrow night with heart-break while someone else is elated and earns a trip to the D2 state championship game.

The tournament has been quite a ride for Falmouth. I honestly think they played one bad game, the first one against Dennis-Yarmouth. It was uninspired. They won by 14, but went through the motions against a team they had already beaten twice.

Against Duxbury they turned it up a notch. Then against Whitman-Hanson they just shot the lights out and stormed by the Panthers, winning by 37.

But last night was something else entirely. Last night was a war, a game that didn’t see a lot of points scored, but saw two teams that gave every bit of effort they could muster.

The kids in Milton right now are asking themselves about every shot they missed. They’re wondering if they’d tried a little harder on one defensive stand if that would have been the difference. They’re not focused on a big, 19-win, season, but one one loss.

And that’s how it will be for another team tomorrow. The hardest thing about the tournament is that only one team ends its year with a victory. Everyone else leaves wondering what if?

I’ll be surprised if the Clippers aren’t still alive after tomorrow night. I try to remain somewhat neutral, since I’m a member of the media and all, but I have watched this team all year. They know how to win, and they’re really playing the best they know how right now.

Heading to the tournament the one thing I worried about was whether or not they’d be able to win a close game that went to the wire. If you look at the games they’d won all year long, almost all of them were by double digits. They’re good at running away from teams, but close games have been difficult. They lost a tight one to Barnstable, a team they should have beaten. They lost a close one to Weymouth, on a night where they just played bad. They lost an overtime game to Portsmouth (RI) early in the year, when they just couldn’t hit a shot. They lost an OT game to Taunton, on the last night of the regular season, and that was one that they could have won too.

But in the biggest spot, against a team that had won it all a year ago, they found a way to win when it mattered the most. Everything was on the line, and they delivered. It was exciting, heart-pounding and everything that is good about sports.

When the school year began people asked me which team I was most looking forward to watching. Football was the easy answer, and the hockey team is always a good watch. But I said the boys’ hoops team. I said that I thought that if they had a few breaks that they were legitimate state championship contenders.

Here we are, 19 wins later, on the eve of playing in the state Final Four at the biggest court in New England. Larry Bird played there. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett play there now. The 2008 Celtics won the championship on that court right there.

Will the Clippers come through like the ‘08 Celts? Well, like Garnett said, “anything is possible.”

Possible, do-able, attainable. It’s there for the grasping, all they have to do is go take it now.

Good luck Clippers. You don’t have to worry about doing the town proud, because it already is. Go make yourselves some memories that will make you smile when you’re old.

“Pain is temporary, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.”

Holy moly, 51-50 Falmouth wins. Baptiste missed his first freebie, but nailed the second one. Santos got in on the inbound, wove through traffic and got off a wild shot at the buzzer that was off the mark. Bedlum.

Best Falmouth crowd I’ve ever seen. They were rocking, completely a factor. Good job by them.

What a game. Can’t even think of the right words to describe it. You should have been here.

7:45 PM at the Garden on Monday night against Reading High, who is coached by the old Barnstable High coach, how about that.

Clippers-Rockets, TD Boston Garden. Pinch me.

Santos made a great move to get the basket to tie it. Nelly got the ball and took off, got hacked on way, shot almost fell. Timeout Milton to ice him. Two shots coming.

Win or lose, Nelly and DK have carried this team. What a game. My heart’s going a million miles an hour and I can barely type coherently. OH MY.

Take a breath take abreath

11-0 run to start quarter. how bout that.

Milton came back with a 6-2 spurt. Timeout Falmouth, up two, under five minutes. This place is nuts.

Bad quarter for the Clippers. Once Lavin picked up his third the offense really struggled. Milton closed the quarter with a 7-0 run over the last 1:36 to take the lead. FHS needs to respond right now or this could get away.

Eight minutes to go with a trip to the Garden on the line. Stakes get no higher than this.

Lavin just picked up No. 3 on a rebound. FHS lead 29-28 … not any more. Hutcherson put back, plus foul, free throw good, 31-29 Milton