Tears rolled down Owen Boudria’s cheeks. His face was red as he walked from the locker room back to the court. It wasn't just the end of the game, nor the end of the season, it was an end of an era for the Wildcats who have been playing together and coached by Scot Boudria since they were in third grade. They are friends and family that have shared countless basketball memories together—dinners, sleepovers, tournaments, games and practices. It all came to an end at the Westport gymnasium in the Sweet 16 on Monday night as the Wildcats fell to 22 seed Mount Greylock 55-52. The Wildcats finished their season with a record of 13-7. 

“I feel bad that we lost,” said Owen Boudria. “But the memories with the team, has to last us a lifetime.” 

 “For the last eight years as a coach, they have probably been my best,” said head coach Scot Boudria. “I got to coach my sons and I got to coach my son’s friends. That’s a big deal to me. Everyone talks about Westport as this cozy, warm place and that’s what it is. People who come in here love the atmosphere. It’s a great place to play basketball.”

“I think we had a great season,” said Westport co-captain Cam Leary. “I wish the guys luck next year.”

Owen Boudria finished with a game high 22 points. The athletic sophomore scored 16 points in the second half. He was clutch down the stretch as he found ways to get to the basket through the bigger Mount Greylock defense. 

Senior forward Max Morotti scored 15 points with four 3-pointers. The big man drained three threes in the first half to keep Westport in the game. Mount Greylock’s plan was to bottle up the key and make Westport shoot from the outside. Normally that’s not a problem for the Wildcats, but on this day, the Wildcats went stone cold. 

“We turned them over a lot, said Coach Boudria. “But we needed to make our threes and we needed to make our free throws.”

“We were waiting to get hot from three and it never happened,” said Leary. “They have a real good defense. They have height that we don’t have. Their over all physicality just over powered us.”

Senior Ben Boudria scored 5 points seeing limited action due to foul trouble. The Wildcats’ dirt-dog made several big steals in the first half. One he swiped from Greylock freshman guard Noah Kane-Smalls and whipped it up court. He sprinted out and caught it, then elevated for a layup. Greylock senior forward Chase Doyle clobbered him to the floor for a foul. The basket counted and Boudria made the foul shot for a Westport 21-17 lead with 4:05 remaining in the second quarter. 

Senior Hunter Brodeur made two short-range jumpers in the first quarter for 4 points. Anthony Raposa sank a jumper and a free throw for 3 points, Cam Leary sank a pair of foul shots in the fourth quarter and Coltrane McGonigle sank one free throw in the first half. 

Westport held a slight 12-11 advantage after the first quarter. Though their faulty shooting continued at the free throw line where they netted just 5 of 14 free throws. Westport managed to stay in the game by playing brilliant defensively and Morotti’s 9 points. 

Second half

With the game tied 24-24 at halftime, Westport hoped a change of sides would bring better luck. But it was Mount Greylock seniors Jackson Shelsy and Max McAlister who netted 3-pointers to give Mount Greylock a quick 30-24 lead. 

Owen Boudria and Morotti countered for the Wildcats. Morotti was fouled putting back a rebound and he sank the shot and the free throw for a 3-point play. Boudria hit his patented jumper, drove to the hoop and got to the line. He scored 8 points to cut the lead to 36-35. With seconds left to play in the third quarter, Morotti drained a 3-pointer and the Westport crowd erupted as the Wildcats held a slight 38-36 lead. 

Mount Greylock had the ball to start the fourth quarter. 

Owen Boudria knocked the ball from Greylock guard Kane-Smalls and pounced on it. He heaved a pass up court to Ben Boudria, but there was no chance of a fast break as Greylock quickly got back on defense. 

Westport shuffled the ball around the arch till Brodeur saw an opening. The senior guard took a quick step, elevated and sank a one-handed jumper. When the official’s whistle blew, most thought the senior had drawn a foul. But the official called offensive charging. No basket.

“Controversial calls like that can completely change the game,” Leary said. “At the end of the day, you really can’t blame the refs. That game could have gone either way. We could be them five out of ten times. It just comes down to execution at the end.” 

Mount Greylock went down and tied the score 38-38 on a jumper by Seamus Barnes who scored 15 points. They went up 44-38 on two more 3-pointers by McAlister and Doyle and kept the lead for good. 

Raposa drained a short range jumper to cut the lead to 44-40. 

Westport got Greylock to cough up the ball and it rolled to Owen Boudria and he again charged up the court, pulled up for a jumper and sank it, to cut the lead to 44-42 with 4:45 left to play. 

Each time Greylock scored, Boudria would answer. 

Till it was 48-46 with 3:12 to play. 

The two teams kept trading scores.

Ben Boudria drove in for a layup to cut the lead to 50-48 with 1:39 to play. 

Doyle put Greylock back up 52-48. 

Owen Boudria got to the line and sank a free throw to cut the lead to 52-49. 

Leary sank a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 52-51 with 51 seconds to play. 

That was as close as Westport would get. 

Shelsy grabbed a rebound and put back a jumper to give Greylock a 54-51 lead. 

Mount Greylock fouled Owen Boudria twice to put him on the line and negate a 3-point attempt. He threw it off the rim the first time, hoping that a teammate could grab the rebound. 

The second time he sank a free throw to cut the lead to 54-52 with 10 seconds left, then threw the second shot off the rim again. 

Greylock grabbed the rebound both times. 

Westport fouled McAlister the first time and he failed to sink a free throw, giving Westport a second chance, but Shelsy grabbed the rebound and Westport fouled McAlister again. 

“That rebound hurt us tremendously,” said Coach Boudria.

This time the Greylock senior guard sank a free throw for a 55-52 lead with 2 seconds left to play. 

Morotti heaved the ball at the basket after the inbound pass, but the ball fell short and the buzzer sounded. 

Westport’s season was over.

“I had about fifteen of my former players scattered all over the place cheering us on,” Coach Boudria said. “They all want us to win, but tonight wasn’t our night.”

“I thought this was the year,” Owen Boudria said. “But, it’s alright. You win some, you lose some.”