And the season continues!

It was a happy night for some of our local basketball teams, especially two for which I provide play-by-play or commentary.

I went to the boys' Division 1-South quarterfinal between Attleboro and Mansfield at a fully-packed Albertini Gymnasium, and was treated to a real nail-biter -- Mansfield 54, Attleboro 52, sending the Hornets on to Sunday's semifinal at Taunton High (3 p.m. start) against Needham.

Mansfield's Sam Stevens drives

past Attleboro's Qualeem Charles

(Sun Chronicle photo)

In the time I have available, I can't recap everything here. Let it suffice that the Hornets rallied from 12 down -- the game almost spirited away from them by Attleboro's Jason Weir (three three-pointers), Nick McMahon (13 points) and reserve forward Lorenzo Wilson (six key points). Plus, Mansfield was horrific at the foul line, hitting just 11 of 26.

But Matty Boen pumped in 19 of his 22 points in the second half, hitting six threes, and some absolutely amazing defense was played by Andrew Rooney, Brendan Foley and Jack Colby to deny Bryant Ciccio and Qualeem Charles the ball down the stretch. Those two finished with 11 and 10 points respectively, just six points among them in the second half.

Then, the good news came in from Foxboro where the Warrior girls avenged last year's loss to Pembroke, beating them 56-43, to advance to Monday's D2-South semifinal at Taunton (5:30 start) against either Old Rochester or New Mission. Katelyn Mollica led Foxboro with 20 points and Shakirah Ketant had a huge rebounding night despite her tender ankle.

And even better news, the scheduling is such this coming week that I can participate in the telecasts of both. Alex Salachi and I will be providing the call on Mansfield Cable Access for the Mansfield-Needham game Sunday in Taunton, and I'm assuming that I'll be working with Mark Davis for the Foxboro game the next night.

And by the way, it was also announced at the Attleboro-Mansfield game that both Mansfield girls' basketball coach Mike Redding and athletic director Joe Russo will be retiring at the end of this sports year. Redding will still be football coach. More to come on these important changes in the days to come.