PSA team
wins New
England
crown
It’s not March yet, but the PSA Prep basketball team won another championship this past weekend.
The Mustangs, who will be looking for their third straight national title and fifth overall next month, were crowned the New England Basketball League Tournament champions Feb. 11 when they knocked off Bradford Christian Academy, 70-61.
“Winning doesn’t get old and we never get used to it,” said coach Tom Espinosa after his team beat Bradford for the third time this season. “We really approached it as a championship game (Sunday) and wanted our guys to have the same mindset we’re going to need in March.”
Ben Ahmed had 10 points and 10 rebounds, Oswin Erhunmwunse had 10 blocks and eight rebounds, and Grant Randall had perhaps his best game of the season, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. He also drew two charges on the defensive end.
Cris McElveen and Tony Williams both scored a team-high 13 points for PSA (23-10), which advanced to the final with an 84-67 win over Newman School Saturday night. Justin Johnson led the way with 20 points, while Ahmed added 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in the win. Erhunmwunse, meanwhile, finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks.
Ahmed moved closer to multiple big numbers at PSA. He enters Friday’s home game just 112 points shy of 1,000 for his career and 136 short of breaking the program’s single-season record. He also needs only 37 more rebounds to become the school’s all-time record holder in that category, and just 87 more to break the single-season record.
With his 14 blocks in the two games, Erhunmwunse now has 118 in his career and moved into third place on PSA’s all-time list.
PSA, ranked No. 8 in the country, started its week with a 69-55 win Tuesday over South Kent. Ahmed had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Erhunmwunse had four points, 10 rebounds, and nine blocks, and Randall finished with eight points and eight boards.
PSA’s Varsity team went 3-0, knocking off St. Andrews’s (60-47), Fisher College (68-58), and Wilbraham & Monson (77-70). Alvaro Salas recorded a career-high eight points, and Ilan Da Silva-Alp and Shane Sebastian-Smalls led a balanced scoring attack with nine points apiece in the win over St. Andrew’s Wednesday, as 11 different players scored for PSA.
Sebastian-Smalls and Julien Ville both tallied 20 points, and Amyas Hall-Chiari finished with 11 Friday as PSA beat Fisher for the second time this season.
And Hall-Chiari capped off the big week with a team-high 23 points in the big win over Wilbraham Saturday. Ville added 13, Sebastian-Smalls chipped in with 12 points and Da Silva-Alp knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with nine points for PSA (12-9).
The girls’ team won its lone game of the week, 52-33 Monday at Rocky Hill, behind Kate Lipatova’s 10 points and nine rebounds. Alicia Jimenez led PSA with 15 points, while Carlota Lopez finished with nine points, four assists, and three steals. Tati Bell added five points, eight rebounds, and three steals as PSA posted its fourth win in five games.
The boys Elite team split a pair of games, topping South Kent 87-77 Tuesday before falling 76-74 Thursday to Busche Academy.
Octavius Wheeler scored 23 of his 29 points in the first half of the South Kent game, while Jalen Claude knocked down five 3-pointers on his way to 17 points. Sebastian Fermin finished with 16 points, and DJ Germann and Carter Mungin both added 11 for PSA.
Carter Mungin scored 25 points against Busche, Javelle Epps finished with 14 points and Jalen Claude had 10 for PSA (16-6), but PSA had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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caption, page 2:

The winning team.  Photo byTom Netzer.