After a great run, the Wareham Vikings ended their season with a loss to Martha's Vineyard, 77-71, in South Division 3 finals at UMass Boston on Saturday, March 9.

For the first quarter, the teams played back and forth, basket for basket, and ended with Martha's Vineyard leading 19-16.

"It could have gone either way," Coach Kevin Brogioli said of the game. The loss "wasn't for a lack of hustle or effort."

The Vikings were grabbing rebounds left and right, but had trouble turning those rebounds into baskets.

Wareham ended the second quarter trailing 43-36.

The gym shook with the sound of cheering from both sides. Martha's Vineyard fans were decked out in "Beat Wareham" T-shirts.

Darien Fernandez was the lead scorer for Wareham with 23 points, followed closely by Sam Brogioli, who put up 21 points.

By the half, Wareham was trailing Martha's Vineyard 43-36.

Sam Brogioli nailed a three-pointer at the start of the third quarter. Fernandez followed with two free-throws, narrowing the boys' gap to 43-41.

"Our defense wasn't as sharp as it's been in the past," said Brogioli. "It was anyone's game with a minute to go."

The close score didn't last long as Martha's Vineyard put up two three-pointers in a row to widen the gap to 49-41.

Wareham went on a scoring tear for a while, with Fernandez, LaTroy Hairston, and Mason Vasconcellos scoring.

With 2 minutes left in the third, Wareham was on the Vineyarders' tail with a score of 53-52.

The teams went back and forth from there. Vineyard was leading 56-52 when Wareham's Quintin Silveira sunk a three-pointer with 1 minute left on the clock.

They tied it up briefly after a three-pointer from Darien Fernandez, but Martha's Vineyard put up two points to end the quarter leading Wareham 60-58.

In the fourth, Wareham pulled ahead after a three-pointer from Darien Fernandez, only to have Martha's Vineyard tie the game again at 64-64.

The Vikings pulled ahead again with a three-pointer from Brogioli, but the lead was short lived, as Martha's Vineyard tied the game at 67-67 with 3:23 left on the clock.

It was a back and forth game even in the final minutes, but the Vineyard pulled away for the victory.