Fitting that a fancy feed led to the game-winning points on Cousy Court. During a frantic final possession, Cole Binienda drove into the lane and whipped a pass to a cutting Matt Halloran with five seconds remaining for the go-ahead layup on Monday night. After Jono Raleigh’s half-court heave rimmed out, Halloran ducked his 6-foot-8-inch frame as he was mobbed by his Worcester Partnership teammates in a 55-54 victory over Sullivan, Garrity and Donnelly Insurance.
The victory handed the fifth-seeded Bancroft School team the Kingsway Summer League championship over the No. 1 seed from St. John’s at Crompton Park on a muggy night. “No one was on me and I just went up with it,” said Halloran, who transferred to Bancroft after playing at Wachusett last season. “It feels great to win the championship.” “I was trying to drive for the layup and I just threw it (to Halloran),” Binienda said.
Worcester Partnership led by 10 points when Binienda slammed home a breakaway dunk with just under five minutes left, but two free throws by Jason Abaan tied the game at 51. Dante Baither’s driving layup put WP back in front before Raleigh’s two free throws retied things. Aiden Turpin split two free throws with 25 seconds remaining to set up the final moments.
Dante Bathier dribbled just past the free throw line, but was doubled by Graham Chiota and Turpin, who knocked the ball away from behind. But Bathier quickly regained possession and passed to Binienda to set up the championship-clinching sequence. Bathier and Bancroft won the NEPSAC title five months ago after defeating Rocky Hill at nearby Worcester Academy. “We have a little experience with it because we won our league championship with our school,” Bathier said. “That helped us.”
Binienda led all scorers with 22 points and Bathier had 16 to share co-MVP honors for the game, but the playoff MVP award went to Raleigh, who had 17 points and a dunk in the second half. “It’s a great award,” Raliegh said. “A win would have been nice too, but I’m still happy about it.”
Khrystian King, who has run the league since 1996 and served as game announcer, handed out several awards after the frenzied final moments. The regular season MVP went to Lucas Kouassi of Young’s Tree Service/South High School; the George Williams Award was presented to Maurice Horton Jr. Of 2Chefs Restaurant/Burncoat; Tylib Jenkins (Details/North High won the Mike Bradley-Cedric Ball Award; Binienda earned the Dwayne McClain Award; and Doherty High’s Hezaki Brown (Fontaine Brothers) earned the Bob Cousy Award. ‒Contact Tim Dumas at tdumas@gannett.com. Follow him on Instagram at tdumas1 and X, formerly known as Twitter, @TDumas2112. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Halloran's late hoop leads Worcester Partnership to Kingsway title