'I’ve never beaten them': Jeremic leads Natick boys basketball to rare win over rival
NATICK – The ball danced, then hopped atop the rim. Dante Jeremic tried some body English in an attempt to nudge it through the hoop. When it dropped, the Natick junior exhaled.
His free throw with 3.1 seconds remaining put the Redhawks ahead by three points, leading to a timeout by head coach Michael Masto as the players happily skipped toward the bench for a giddy huddle.
“I saw Dante’s face after and it was definitely a look of relief,” said Natick captain Sean Fleming. “I knew it was going in, though. We didn’t even talk about a backup plan if he missed.”
After returning to the foul line, Jeremic calmly made the second free throw – his team-high 22nd point – to seal a rare win over Needham, 61-57, Friday night.
“I was nervous,” Jeremic admitted. “But once it started bouncing around, I knew it was going in.”
Natick (7-2) did not play with that same level of confidence over the prior three minutes, however. Needham, which trailed by 14 points in the third quarter, sliced its deficit to 59-56 on Devin Dellamarggio’s steal and layup with 1:26 left.
Successive Redhawk turnovers on the next two possessions left the Rockets with a final chance to tie – still down by three – with 26 seconds to go. But Natick smartly fouled Dellamarggio with seven ticks left. The Needham senior made the first free throw and missed the second, but Natick’s Kyle Fuchs secured the rebound, leading to Jeremic’s nerve-wracking trip to the free-throw line at the other end.
Fleming, who scored six points and handed out a number of stylish assists, was pleased to finally earn a win over Needham.
“I’ve never beaten them in my eight years of MetroWest (travel basketball),” he said. “They’ve always dominated us so it’s a great feeling.”
The Rockets (6-4) lost their third consecutive game, but started Friday with a strong push. Brian Cloonan hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 of his team’s 18 first-quarter points for a two-point advantage heading into the second.
Liam O’Neill (13 points) was a bright spot for the Redhawks in the opening quarter with six points.
But Natick allowed Cloonan (game-high 28 points) just a single two-point basket and used an 18-2 run to breeze into halftime with a 34-24 lead. Jeremic, scoreless in the opening quarter, scored seven second-quarter points and a pair of 3-pointers from Pat Mullholland fueled the surge, but it was defense that provided the biggest spark.
Needham managed just six points in the second period.
“It was all about adjusting to what Cloonan was doing,” Fleming said. “Coach Masto did a great job of making those adjustments. He knew what we needed to do to shut him down.”
A Fuchs three-point play helped the Redhawks to a 44-30 lead in the third quarter before the Rockets responded.
“We knew they weren’t going to go away easily,” Fleming said. “We definitely need to improve on the turnovers and taking care of the ball.”
Tim Dumas is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tdumas@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimDumas.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Jeremic, Natick High boys basketball defeated Needham
