This season’s Wilbraham & Monson Academy Boys Prep Basketball team could have thrown itself a pity party.

They didn’t, and now the Titans find themselves at a big dance.

Despite competing much of the season with just seven players, WMA earned a spot in the New England Prep School Athletic Council tournament. The seventh-seeded Titans will play at No. 2 Cambridge Arts, Technology & Science Academy on Wednesday, March 5, in a Class AA quarterfinal at 4:30 p.m.

"I couldn't be prouder of this group,” Coach Mike Mannix expressed. “By now, most fans and supporters know that we were left with seven available players in mid-January. To lose your leading scorer and rebounder (Sam Fleming ’26) is devastating. The guys never did the whole ‘woe is me’ act, when it would have been easy to fall into that trap. They stuck together and played together. That is what got us to where we are."

Remarkably, the Titans finished 15-12 overall and 11-9 in league play. Behind its defense, which has regularly held high-powered teams in the 50s and 60s, WMA closed out the regular season by winning eight of 12 games, which included a one-point loss.

“We are playing well,” Coach Mannix said. “You can see that we have long stretches in games of playing very connected on offense. Our screening and cutting, and the ability to find the open man, has been at a high level as of late. 

“(This team has) no egos; no frills; no over-hyping things. The guys never pointed fingers and never sought praise. We practiced, we played, we competed, we defended and we won a lot of ball games.”

WMA lost at CATS in Braintree, Massachusetts, on Jan. 24.