Revere boys advance in tourney with comeback win

  About three weeks ago, the Revere High School boys’ basketball team appeared to be ready to simply play out the regular-season string and regroup for next season. The Patriots sat at 5-9 overall with six games left on the schedule.

  But Revere suddenly got key players back from injury, including senior top scorer Domenic Boudreau, and was not ready to pack it in. The Patriots pulled off victories in five of their last six contests (the lone loss being a road defeat at Div. 1 Peabody) to reach the 10-win mark and gain a spot in the Div. 2 state playoff tournament.

  Receiving the 38th seed with a 10-10 record, the Patriots faced the No. 27 Plymouth South Panthers in a preliminary round game Monday on the road. It didn’t look good for Revere late in the fourth quarter, as it trailed 50-44.  Amazingly, Revere went on to outscore the Panthers 11-0 to close out the affair and come away with a 55-50 comeback victory.

  Senior captains Boudreau (16 points) and Vincent Nichols (13) led the way offensively for Revere.  As has been commonplace in recent outings, Boudreau also snatched 14 rebounds to earn another double-double. Nichols contributed two blocked shots to the cause and Ethan Day reached double figures in points with 10.

  Head coach David Leary praised the great playoff atmosphere and back and forth nature of the contest. As a result, the 11-10 Patriots moved on to central Massachusetts to battle the sixth-seeded Nashoba Regional Chieftains in the Round of 32 on Thursday. Nashoba would be a challenge to topple, as the Chieftains finished with an impressive 18-2 regular-season record.

  The winner of Thursday’s clash will face either 11th-seeded North Quincy or 22nd seeded Whitman-Hanson Regional in a final-16 contest.  If the Patriots advance further, because of their low seeding, they would be on the road the rest of the way.