Rivals East Boston and Madison Park stepped onto the court for the third time Friday night with Madison Park (16-2) fully aware that their only two losses of the season had come against the Jets. Unfortunately for the Cardinals after four quarters and an extra four minutes of basketball, they fell just short against East Boston (16-4) once again.
A year after falling in the championship game to Charlestown, junior forward Kenny Ramos ensured the Jets would be able to celebrate this time around with his go-ahead, game-winning jumper with less than five seconds to play in East Boston's 60-59 overtime win. Ramos earned the Tournament MVP with nine of his team-high 16 points coming in the final minutes, to go along with his six rebounds.
The game went back and forth with neither team gaining an edge of more than six points. Despite a big run by Madison Park early in the second quarter, East Boston grabbed a 23-22 advantage heading into halftime.
Second half play favored Madison Park, who held a small lead midway through the fourth quarter and looked like they were headed to their third title in four years (2009, 2010). Behind senior forward Dakim Murray (23 points and seven rebounds) the Cardinals controlled the paint and the smaller Jets side.
That's when things started getting crazy at Madison Park High School. East Boston freshmen guard Joel Guevarra knocked down several threes and scored 12 of his fifteen points in the second half to get his team back into the game. Guevarra and Madison Park guard O'Shea Joy (17 points) traded baskets as the game went down to the final minutes with the team's trading one-possesion leads or locked in a tie.
After a huge Guevarra 3-pointer with under 10 seconds to play tied up the game, Madison Park had one final chance to win it in regulation. Murray's three-quarters court pass was intercepted by Ramos, but the Jets failed to score after a timeout and the game would go to overtime (50-50).
Overtime proved to be just as back-and-forth, as Madison Park grabbed a four-point lead only to have East Boston get right back into the game. In the end, it was Ramos who put the Jets over the top.
With East Boston trailing 59-58 with 20 seconds to play, the Jets threw up two shots in traffic, only to have the ball end up in Ramos' hands surrounded by Madison Park players. The junior bulled through the swarm of arms and had his final attempt rim in to give his team their final lead. A Rayshawn Matthews full-court heave fell off the mark and Madison Park was left to watch East Boston celebrate on their home court.