Bucks Rally From Slow Start To Capture Championship

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When the Bucks finished the regular season at 1-7, few expected them to contend for the Green Hornets third/fourth-grade club basketball championship.

But then the playoffs started, and the Bucks got hot, reeling off three straight victories, including a win in the championship game at Severn School on February 23, to claim the league crown.

The team of Cullin Quinn, Adam Lynn, Luke Raino, Mason Madison, Jesse Rowe, Tucker Lapriola, Ryan Harting, Elliott Balague, Patrick Cornwall and Domonic Biello struggled during the regular season but hit their stride late in the winter, said assistant coach Ben Lynn.

“This team was improving every week, and when the postseason started, the boys were ready to prove to the league that it would be unwise to look past them,” said Lynn, who led the team with head coach Jimmy Biello.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Bucks avenged a regular-season loss from the previous week behind multiple blocked shots by Cornwall and a strong defensive game from Quinn.

In the semifinals, the team upset the bracket’s top seed, getting breakout offensive performances from Domonic Biello and Adam Lynn and clutch free throws by Rowe to ice the game. The Bucks won 21-20 to earn a berth in the league final. The semifinal win showed “what this team was made of, and it left no doubt in the players’ minds of what they could accomplish as a team,” said coach Lynn.

Against another tough opponent in the final on February 23, the Bucks received a strong outing from point guard Raino and a shutdown defensive game by Madison. The Bucks rallied from a 19-14 deficit with four minutes remaining and closed the game on a 10-0 run, getting baskets from big men Balague and Harting and a thundering blocked shot from Harting. Lapriola scored the go-ahead basket before the Bucks closed out a 24-19 win.

Coach Lynn congratulated the Bucks for their accomplishment and their “never-quit determination” and thanked the Green Hornets organization for a fantastic season.

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