The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys basketball team is headed to TD Garden next weekend, not as fans but as players. The team faces off on Sunday, Jan. 14 against Nantucket as part of a fundraising event for the Andrew James Lawson Foundation.
The game begins at 1 p.m., one of 10 games to played during the day to raise money for Unified Basketball teams throughout the state, helping to support projects and scholarships for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
But the team still has work to do — and not just on the court. Each team has to sell 400 tickets by Jan. 7. The team has already sold 325 tickets at $25 apiece and the players have been canvassing their friends, family and community members to secure the last 75.
“They’re stoked,” coach Mike Joyce said of his players. “You get to play on a court that you see on TV all the time. That alone is a really amazing experience for them.”
This is the first year the team has participated in the invitational. The school will have buses waiting for the 9:30 a.m. ferry on Jan. 14 to take attendees to Boston. The game begins at 1 p.m.
The last time the Vineyard boys team played at TD Garden was 10 years ago, at the state championships against Danvers. Several buses of fans attended the game, Mr. Joyce said.
“Maybe half the winter population was there,” he said.
Mr. Joyce said that the much-larger venue will take some adjusting to. The court is also slightly larger as the length of professional courts exceed high school courts by 10 feet.
And the audience will be much, much bigger.
“I’m sure there will be a moment when they’re on the Garden floor that will be a little heady for them, but we’ll talk our way through it,” Mr. Joyce said.
The good news, he added, is that while the venue may be new, the opponent is not. In December, the team defeated Nantucket 58-47.
“We’ve been playing Nantucket forever,” Mr. Joyce said. “That’s something they understand pretty well.”
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