ATHOL — In the “Battle of the Borders” AAU basketball tournament that started on April 7 and stretched through April 8, several local players competed on the 10th grade or younger tournament’s winning team, the North Quabbin Blue Devils.
The team went 3-1 in the tournament, in which games took place in Hampton and Nashua, N.H. With the tournament win, the Blue Devils secured an automatic invite to the National AAU playoffs held from June 8-10 in Boston.
Noaha Chabot, Matt Lyesiuk, Dasean Watson, Jakob Carron, Aydan Sevigny, Deven Patch, Eli Gonzalez, Jake Tenney, Charlie Barnes, Jaden Softic and Luke Melanson were all part of the winning team.
The Blue Devils defeated Premier Hoops of Lawrence, 56-53 in game one. The Blue Devils held a 29-26 advantage at halftime and no team held a lead more than five points.
They then lost to Mass Rivals of Concord, 60-57, in game two. The Blue Devils got off to a slow start and trailed 37-20 by halftime. The Blue Devils came out with the press in the second-half and took the lead with two minutes left in the game. The game was tied with 18 seconds left in the game and a long three from the Mass Rivals led them to the victory.
On Sunday, the Blue Devils defeated the Nashua Spartans, 50-38, in game one. Both teams needed a win to advance. The Blue Devils went up 26-19 by half, and their strong interior defense held the Spartans to only 19 points in the second half, while the Blue Devils extended their lead to 14 points at times.
In the championship game, the Blue Devils defeated the Beantown Bailers, 45-43, in overtime. Five minutes into the game, the Blue Devils held a 14-0 lead, but the Bailers were able to close the deficit to five at 25-20 by halftime. The Blue Devils extended their lead to 36-22, but slowed in the later part of the second half as their lead shrunk to only three points with under one minute left in the game. The Bailers tied the game at 41 with a three with 18 seconds left, but the Devils prevailed in OT 45-43.
The North Quabbin Blue Devils also hosted a team in the 7th grade and under division of the tournament. They went 0-3 throughout the tournament, losing to the New Hampshire Fire 37-21, the New Hampshire Rivals 55-44 and Hoop Squad of Worcester 53-31.
More on the tournament and results of every team cane be found at https://www.zerogravitybasketball.com/battlefortheborderschedule