West Bridgewater can't keep pace with No. 1 Wareham boys basketball

Story bySouthCoastToday.comWest Bridgewater can't keep pace with No. 1 Wareham boys basketballLaurie Los Lee, The Standard-TimesWed, March 11, 2026 at 3:20 AM UTC·3 min read

NEW BEDFORD — Wareham boys basketball is at its best when the Vikings are pushing the tempo, getting out on fastbreaks.

West Bridgewater found that out the hard way on Tuesday, March 10.

The top-seeded Vikings jumped out to an 18-point lead in the first quarter as they cruised to an 80-66 win over the No. 4 Wildcats in the MIAA Div. 4 state semifinals at New Bedford High.

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Wareham (20-5) will face No. 3 Georgetown (19-5) in the state finals at UMass Lowell at a date and time to be determined. The defending state champs beat second-seeded Millbury, 53-51, in the Final 4.

“We’ve already started looking at Georgetown and we know they’re a great team,” said Wareham head coach Steve Faniel. “We know they’re the defending state champs so it’s not going to be easy.”

The Vikings, who won back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2024, will be going after their third state trophy in the past four years.

The Wareham bench cheers on their teammates as the Vikings advance to the MIAA Division 4 State Finals with a 80-66 victory over West Bridgewater.

“We’re meant to be here,” said Wareham junior Amare Rose, who contributed to the 2024 championship as a freshman. “A couple of us have been here already. We know what it feels like. We know what it takes to get there so we knew we had to make a positive impact early and come out strong.”

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Whether it was off turnovers or defensive rebounds, the Vikings pushed the tempo in the first quarter with most of their baskets coming in transition. Junior Malikhi Tavares had four fastbreak layups in the first six minutes.

Wareham's Malikhi Tavares rolls it in as the Vikings advance to the MIAA Division 4 State Finals with a 80-66 victory over West Bridgewater.

“I don’t think they played a whole lot of up-and-down teams throughout the year so our motto all week was we want to take their lungs,” Faniel said of the gameplan. “We wanted to take their lungs out and run up and down the court, wear them down and keep putting pressure on them on both sides of the ball.

“That’s what we do. We want to speed you up and we know on the defensive end is how we speed teams up.”

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West Bridgewater head coach Ryan Otto said his team couldn’t stick with the Vikings.

“What a pace they play,” he said. “It’s a fast pace.”

Wareham led by as much as 30 points in the second quarter and took a 27-point lead into the fourth.

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Wareham's Amare Rose drives to the basket as the Vikings advance to the MIAA Division 4 State Finals with a 80-66 victory over West Bridgewater.

“We just run, run, run. We don’t have size so we’ve got to run,” said Rose, who had 15 of his 21 points in the first half. “When we’re running at our full potential, nobody can run with us. I think we’re 100% the best team in the state when we’re running that way.”

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In the midst of a historic season, the Wildcats (16-8) clawed back into the game in the fourth quarter against Wareham’s reserves, cutting the lead to 19, prompting Faniel to put his starters back in to close it out over the final 6 minutes.

“At halftime, I said, ‘It’s pride. Don’t give up,’” Otto said. “I’m proud of that second half effort.

“To me, we’ve done something. We’ve started something. The older guys can come back to the West Bridgewater gym and be proud to say that they were the ones who did it and they were the ones to get that wheel in motion.”

Wareham's Aaron Cote hits the three to close out the half as the Vikings advance to the MIAA Division 4 State Finals with a 80-66 victory over West Bridgewater.

Wareham 80, West Bridgewater 66

West Bridgewater

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Nick Navin 6 (2), Hayden Razza 5, Colin O’Neil 6 (2), Armani Lloret 6, Lamar Valentina 11, Jag Garces 10 (1), JJ MacLean 9 (2), Ben Stapleton 13 (3).

Wareham

Amare Rose 21 (1), Aaron Cote 22 (5), Malikhi Tavares 13 (1), Cisco Monterio 4, Robbie Orne 6 (1), Coleman Brito 7 (1), Tyler Cannon 7 (1).

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Wareham boys basketball beats West Bridgewater in MIAA Div. 4 Final 4

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