BRAINTREE, Mass. — The title race in the New England Basketball League has taken shape.
All eight teams in the NEBL traveled to CATS Academy for a quadruple-header on Saturday as some of the best prep school talent in the region was on display for a day-long showcase. We were treated to an awesome matchup between CATS and Newman to start the day at 11 a.m. – with CATS prevailing for a massive win on its home floor – before New Hampton edged South Kent in the second game. Putnam Science and Cushing then cruised to blowout wins to finish the day.
Cushing now leads the NEBL standings with a 5-0 record, with New Hampton and CATS a game behind with a 4-1 mark. The winner of the league will be decided in two weeks during a two-day showcase at the Track at New Balance, where each team will play the last two games on their NEBL schedule.
Let’s get into some standouts and takeaways from Saturday’s games at CATS.
Saturday’s results
CATS 73, Newman 61
New Hampton 82, South Kent 78
Putnam Science 92, Brewster Academy Prep 74
Cushing 84, Brimmer & May 44
Standouts
Theo Edema, Cushing
Class of 2027, 7-foot center
Hometown: Delta State, Nigeria
One of the most promising bigs in New England, Edema’s development this winter has been evident. He recorded a triple-double with blocks on Wednesday, and he capped a breakout week with 13 points, five rebounds and an assist in just 18 minutes before sitting most of the second half of Cushing’s blowout. He drilled a 3-pointer from the corner, and overall, his feel for the game is getting so much stronger.
“He’s just playing a lot of basketball and he’s just developing his IQ, both sides of the ball, finding himself in the right place more frequently,” Cushing head coach James Cormier said. “Still continuing to work on his hands, still continuing to work on his balance and footwork, but the style that we play allows him to do some things on the perimeter.
“I think last year, it was certainly a learning curve and now you see how comfortable he is, making reads as either a dribble hand-off guy, passer or putting it down and attacking from the perimeter. If he’s able to do that, he’s pretty special.”
Ryan Moesch, Cushing
Class of 2026, 6-0 guard
Hometown: Chittenango, N.Y.
I look forward to watching Cushing games because I know I’m going to see Moesch make a few plays that will ‘wow’ me, and he didn’t disappoint on Saturday as he led the Penguins with 14 points, four assists and two steals in just 20 minutes. Moesch went 3-for-4 from 3-point range, and he was a magician with his shot creation and playmaking. He had the ball on a string and just made some of the difficult passes look effortless. On one play in transition, he looked off one teammate rolling to the corner before threading a perfect pass down the middle to another teammate. His vision, especially in the open floor, is incredible.
Parrish Edmond, Putnam Science
Class of 2026, 6-5 guard
Hometown: Norwalk, Conn.
Edmond is known for his athleticism – he can truly jump out of the gym – but his shotmaking has noticeably improved over the course of the winter. He had a team-high 17 points, including two 3-pointers as he went 7-for-10 from the field. His outside shot has helped open up his game, and now he’s a critical piece of Putnam’s rotation.
“Just his confidence, he’s not hesitating,” Putnam head coach Tom Espinosa said. “I think early on, when he had an open 3, he was hesitating, he wanted to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. Now he’s shooting and not hesitating. He’s shooting the ball well and obviously still attacking. His game, since October and November, has really skyrocketed. He was fighting for minutes and now he’s starting.”
Lucas Morillo, Newman
Class of 2026, 6-7 guard
Hometown: Mount Vernon, N.Y.
Morillo played 38 minutes in Newman’s loss to CATS, almost eight minutes more than the next closest teammate. It made sense; you simply can’t take the do-it-all guard off the floor. He finished with a near triple-double, 20 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, and did his best to lead a comeback in the late stages. After Newman fell behind by 17, Morillo led a charge that included a couple of 3s and an assist to cut it to six, but it was the closest they got.
Jaxson Terry, CATS
Class of 2026, 6-5 guard
Hometown: Acton, Mass.
Terry doesn’t always need to score on a talented CATS squad, but he can fill it up with the best of New England. He showed it again with 25 points on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range to lead CATS to its win over Newman. You could tell it was Terry’s day when he hit a couple of early ones to help CATS get its footing after a slow start, and then he made some big ones to help them pull away in the second half. He was feeling it.
“He was saying (the 3-pointers were) layups,” CATS head coach Cary Herer said. “He’s just turned into a knockdown shooter over the course of this year. He’s been really working at it.”
Keyshuan Tillery, New Hampton
Class of 2025, 6-1 guard
Hometown: Albany, N.Y.
NCAA: Cincinnati
The best point guard playing right now in New England showed why again as he put up 28 points and eight assists to lead New Hampton’s win over South Kent. The Huskies trailed by seven at halftime, but Tillery – with help from star teammates Mason Blackwood and Nasir Meyer – put the team on his back with 17 second-half points, including some tough finishes at the rim and a late decisive 3-pointer in front of the New Hampton bench.
“He’s just that guy,” New Hampton head coach Andrew Gale said. “His maturity has grown, and he’s been in so many big games that he’s used to it. He’s done a better job of just taking coaching and growing from that sense. That’s a culmination of two-and-a-half years in that moment.”
Quick shouts: Jaylen Harrell had 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists for CATS. … I was impressed with South Kent’s guards, specifically Nate Brazil who had 12 points and helped them stay in it late. … Putnam Science guard Jah Hatchett was super impactful on both ends; he had seven points, three assists and his three steals don’t tell the full story of how disruptive he was defensively. … Jaeden Roberts (13 points), Warren Keel (11 points), Brayson Green (10 points) and Abdou Yadd (9 points) also had some nice moments for Putnam. … Ty Tabales had a couple of big 3s for New Hampton.
Takeaways
1. The celebration inside CATS’ home locker room could be heard from down the hall after its win over Newman. The Griffins are now 18-3 and winners of six straight, and they knew this one against one of the region’s best teams meant something more.
“It’s a big win for us because to play a great program like that who’s getting a lot of notoriety, and just to show that we can play with anybody,” Herer said. “That was big for us.”
2. The difference for CATS came on the defensive end. They trailed by one at halftime but started the second half on a 13-4 that was largely fueled by increased ball pressure and keeping Newman out of transition. Herer thought Jaylin Williams-Crawford made Morillo exhausted, and his team locked in on that end.
“Everything is about defense for us,” Herer said. “I felt like we wore them down and we were really fighting defensively. (Newman head coach) Jackson (Johnson) knew all of our plays, and I knew all of his plays, so it wasn’t about X’s and O’s, it was about the kids. Our kids played really, really hard. They followed the game plan and everybody played their role.”
3. New Hampton improved to 19-2 this season after its win over South Kent and has won six consecutive games since its ugly loss at Phillips Exeter on Jan. 11. That game represented an important lesson in maturity; the team, coaches and players both included, received several texts and messages in the wake of that loss, which was a reminder of the high standard they’ve set for themselves. The response has more closely resembled the championship-ready group they are.
“We talked about the entitlement of that game and going into that game and playing as if the game doesn’t really matter, when it’s like every single game matters,” Gale said. “The amount of people that asked these kids, ‘Oh what happened at Exeter?’ Fans, coaches, everybody, like ‘Oh my God, how does that happen?’ I got a text that was like, ‘Is this score right?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, the score is right.’ They’re a really good team. They played extremely well. We played poorly.
“That’s not to take anything away from them, but it’s like, that’s been the motivation. If you don’t show up every single night, that will happen. You have established yourselves as this team that can’t do that.”
4. The stage is set for the final NEBL weekend on Feb. 15-16 at the Track at New Balance. Here’s the schedule for those two days, with NEBL records in parentheses. Cushing will have to earn a title with tough games against New Hampton and Putnam.
Saturday, Feb. 15
Newman (3-2) vs. Brewster Academy Prep (0-5), 11:45 a.m.
Putnam Science (3-2) vs. CATS (4-1), 1:35 p.m.
Cushing (5-0) vs. New Hampton (4-1), 3:25 p.m.
South Kent (1-4) vs. Brimmer & May (0-5), 5:15 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 16
New Hampton (4-1) vs. CATS (4-1), 11:45 a.m.
South Kent (1-4) vs. Newman (3-2), 1:35 p.m.
Brimmer & May (0-5) vs. Brewster Academy Prep (0-5), 3:25 p.m.
Putnam Science (3-2) vs. Cushing (5-0), 5:15 p.m.
