Wareham’s three starters were not enough to win the Division 3 championship for Bishop Stang.

In the Div. 3 finals, held on March 16 at College of the Holy Cross, the Spartans came out ready to fight, holding a lead as great as eight points throughout the first half. But by the end of the second quarter, the Raiders fought back and earned a 28-26 lead.

The Raiders upped offense shined in the remaining half. The team held onto its lead for most of the third quarter. Heading into the fourth quarter with a 41-37 lead, the Raiders put 30 points on the board in the fourth quarter alone, securing a 71-56 win.

Three of the Spartans’ five starters are from Wareham: Joseph Silvia, Justin Lopes, and Damien Perry. Lopes led scoring for the Spartans with 15 points. Perry scored 10 points.

“It just didn’t go our way,” Perry said. “We went in there confident, but stuff just wasn’t working out for us. They’re a big team, and they out-rebounded us. The ball just went their way this week.”

It wasn’t Perry’s first time in the state tournament - he was on the team for the 2016 Div. 3 championship victory.

“We came here as freshmen, so we knew what it was like, but it definitely felt way different than freshman year,” Perry said. “We didn’t get it done this time.”

Head Coach Colby Santos attributed the loss to a lack of good flow.

“I think a lot of it was we just kind of settled,” Santos said. “We settled for jump shots. We just didn’t have good flow today, and then the pressure in our second half, we stopped getting after them pressure-wise, and I think that was a big part of the game plan.”

Dartmouth’s Declan Markey put five points on the board for the Spartans.

“We started slowing down, and started playing at their pace,” Markey said. “Once we played their pace, they just controlled the game.”

The sophomore is already looking forward to next season.

“Hopefully, we have a few young kids come up and we get back here,” Markey said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”

Other scorers included Eric Camacho with 13 points, Isaiah Rodrigues with 8 points, Marcus Rapoza with 3 points, and Maxwell Winterhalter with two points.