The Toll Gate boys basketball team’s Cinderella season came to an end last week in the Division III semifinals, when Times2 Academy pulled off the 66-63 win to advance to the finals.

Toll Gate played from behind the majority of the contest but would grab its first lead with 5:41 remaining in the third quarter when Brayden Healey scored. Times2 regained the lead but Jack Colvin would hit a 3-pointer with 3:37 left in the fourth to put Toll Gate back on top.

Times2 star Yomy Garcia caught fire in the final three minutes of play, though, and would propel the Eagles to a 12-3 run to close things out. Toll Gate hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to set the final score to 66-63.

“They’ve got great players and they got hot. They have players that can hit the outside shot and we made it easy for them. We’ve done that before, we’ve dug ourselves into holes,” said Toll Gate coach Richard Grenier. “We knew it was going to be a battle, they have guys like (Garcia)and they play on an elite AAU program. They have exceptional players. We played with a lot of toughness and grit but we just couldn’t pull it through.”

Times2 came out firing early and would grab a seven-point lead by sinking five 3-pointers in the first quarter. The Titans kept the score close, trailing by five at the halftime break. Healey scored eight points in the third quarter to set up the comeback opportunity. 

Damola Oremosu led Toll Gate with 25 points while Healey added 17 and Colvin nine.

After moving to DIII this season, Toll Gate quickly became one of the top teams in the field and secured the third seed in the playoffs.

Oremosu will be returning next season along with guys like Will Goodine and Jaden Roache. The team will be saying bye to its three captains in Healey, Colvin and Liam Leahy.

“The three of them were great for us. They epitomized the word ‘team.’ We really were like a winter family this year. One thing you need to do in an athletic program is to develop a family atmosphere and they did that,” said Grenier.