BOSTON — With a spot in the MIAA Division 4 quarterfinals on the line, neither Greenfield or the O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science boys basketball teams were giving an inch Tuesday night. 

Both the 23rd-seeded Tigers and 26th-seeded Green Wave sprang upsets to earn their spots in the Round of 16, and after 32 minutes of action, the game was knotted at 51 which led to overtime. 

While offense was tough to come by throughout, both teams found a groove in the four-minute OT. After O’Bryant’s Jackson Farrington sank a pair from the free throw line with 47 seconds remaining to tie the game at 62, neither squad was able to produce a bucket the rest of the way, and action moved to a second overtime.

Greenfield’s Jon Breor scored the opening basket of the second OT but an 8-1 run by the Tigers staked them to a 70-65 lead with under a minute to play. Breor scored with 39 seconds to go but that was the final basket of the game, as a Green Wave 3 just before the buzzer was tipped to allow O’Bryant to escape to the quarterfinals with a 70-67 victory. 

“We played hard,” Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas said. “Double OT, a couple things go our way we win the game and a couple things go their way and they win the game.

“Basketball comes down to a couple of possessions,” Thomas added. “They made the plays down the stretch and we didn’t. Basketball is a game of possession and it can come down to two, three, four possessions. They made the plays and we didn’t.” 

Fireworks went off with 2:15 to go in the first overtime period. 

Grayson Thomas swished a 3 that gave the Green Wave (12-11) a 56-55 lead, but Lamar Pina responded with a basket on the other end. 

Greenfield senior Caleb Murray dribbled it up the court and drained a 3 that put the Wave back ahead, but just seconds later Pina hit a 3 of his own to answer again. Murray then came down the court and hit another 3, giving Greenfield a 62-60 lead with 1:20 to play. 

Farrington was fouled and made both to tie it at 62 and the offense cooled from there, which led to the second overtime. 

Foul trouble hurt the Wave down the stretch. Grayson Thomas (13 points) and Caleb Thomas (17 points) both fouled out in overtime, which forced Greenfield to play without two starters for nearly the entire second overtime period. 

Nolan Nash put O’Bryant (14-9) up 65-64 early in the second overtime and the Tigers never relinquished the lead from there. 

It was a slow start offensively for both teams. 

An Erik Martineau basket followed by an and-one from Grayson Thomas before the first-quarter buzzer sounded gave the Green Wave a 14-9 lead after eight minutes. 

Caleb Thomas had the hot hand early in the second quarter, scoring a trio of baskets to open the frame that gave Greenfield a 20-9 lead. 

Breor scored a pair of baskets later in the quarter before Caleb Thomas hit a 3-pointer that put the Wave ahead, 27-12. Keyshon Wright hit a 3 at the buzzer — O’Bryant’s only field goal of the quarter — that cut the deficit to 27-15 at the half. 

The Tigers came out strong to open the second half. After a Grayson Thomas 3 gave Greenfield a 30-17 lead, O’Bryant went on a 14-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Farrington that gave the Tigers a 31-30 advantage with three minutes to go in the quarter. It was O’Bryant’s first lead of the game. 

The Green Wave responded with a 6-0 run late in the quarter behind a 3 from Murray and three points from Breor to take a 37-35 lead going into the fourth. 

Neither team was able to break free in the final frame. A Jaime Igboenyesi 3 gave O’Bryant a 42-41 lead with five minutes to go, then Martineau and Caleb Thomas countered with baskets for Greenfield. With 4:30 to go, Nolan Nash made a pair from the stripe to take a 46-45 lead. 

Caleb Thomas and Martineau scored consecutive baskets that gave the Wave a 49-46 lead but Farrington scored a pair of baskets and sank one from the line with 28 seconds to go that put O’Bryant ahead, 51-49. 

Grayson Thomas drove to the hoop and was fouled with 10 seconds to go. He made both and a Tiger heave at the buzzer fell short, leading to overtime with the score knotted at 51. 

Breor finished with 19 points, while Martineau and Murray each added nine points in the loss. Farrington led the Tigers with 19 points, and O’Bryant will travel to No. 2 Bourne in the Round of 8.