Brewster Academy (N.H.) advances to semifinals at Chipotle Nationals

Despite playing only six players on Thursday evening, Brewster Academy (N.H.) outlasted CIA Bella Vista Prep out of Arizona 68-62 in the third of four quarterfinals at the Chipotle Nationals.

The fourth-seeded Bobcats overcame a 5-for-26 effort from behind the arc with a stellar night at the free throw line and dominated the paint 34-24 en route to the victory. Top-50 junior recruit Sebastian Wilkins (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Stanford commit Ebuka Okorie (20 points, 6 rebounds) did the heavy lifting by hitting a combined 13 of 30 attempts from the field.

Both teams came out firing in the first quarter, hitting multiple 3-pointers and both shooting better than 50% from the field. Tied at 21 heading into the second frame, they did more of the same. CIA Bella Vista actually went into the half with the lead (42-38), led by star junior Miles Sadler and Rokiem Green.

The duo scored 47 of their team’s 60 points in the game, combining to shoot nearly 50% from the field themselves.

But Brewster took over in the final 16 minutes of the game though, holding Bella Vista to just eight points in the third quarter while taking a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. From there, they led the rest of the way and extended their lead to as many as 10 points in the final minutes. That included salting the game away at the line, where they hit 9 of their final 10 shots.

With the loss, CIA Bella Vista finishes the season at 21-8. Brewster, meanwhile, improves to 28-4 and moves on to face the winner of No. 1 Columbus (Fla.) and No. 8 Wasatch Academy, which takes place later Thursday night.

About the Chipotle Nationals

More on the major event via the Chipotle Nationals’ website:

“The National High School Invitational (NHSI) was created in 2009 by Paragon Marketing Group to provide a platform for the top, nationally ranked high school basketball teams in the country to compete against one another in a season-ending tournament.

Over the course of fifteen-years, this event (previously titled DICK’S Nationals and GEICO Nationals, taking place in DC, NYC, FL) has crowned the best high school basketball teams in the country. In 2024, the event moved to IN and became the Chipotle High School Basketball Nationals aka ‘Chipotle Nationals’.”