During senior night on Friday, Feb. 14th, the boys varsity basketball team suffered a tough loss of 71-60 at the Schluntz Gymnasium as their opponent, the Brockton Boxers, held the lead the entire game.

Brookline got off to a slow start, and head coach Courtney Valentine was forced to take a timeout four minutes into the game with Brookline down 8-3 after Brockton capitalized on many second-chance points off of offensive rebounds.

Brookline was able to recover shortly after senior Ben Murray made a layup, got fouled, and made the free throw. Shortly after, the crowd was on their feet for the first time even though Brockton had an 11-10 lead.

As the first quarter wound down, Brockton made three big 3-pointers which put them in position for a 20-13 lead.

Brookline started the second quarter hot, scoring five straight points, ending with a 3-pointer from sophomore Theo Murray which cut Brockton’s lead to 20-18. However, Brockton got back into the rhythm of their offense, using their height to their advantage by creating many second-chance points off of rebounds and also hitting big 3-pointers. Going into halftime, Brockton was up 41-25.

In the beginning of the third quarter Brockton once again showed their dominance on the offensive glass as they got two offensive rebounds which led to a layup where the shooter ended up getting fouled and made the following free throw.

Once again Brockton finished the quarter strong as their last nine points came from four points off of offensive rebounds and six points from two 3-pointers. Heading into the final quarter Brockton had a 57-41 lead.

A fast-break layup by Brookline with just under two minutes left in the game cut Brockton’s lead to 67-58, which was the first time that the lead was under ten points in the second half. However, Brookline could not catch a break. 15 seconds later Brockton hit another 3-pointer and put the game to rest.

Even though Brookline suffered a tough defeat it was still a memorable experience for Murray in his last home regular season game of his Brookline career.

“It was definitely an experience even though we lost because I have been in this program for four years and every game I went out and played like it was my last,” Murray said. “So this was definitely a memorable night for me.”