FITCHBURG — Often it’s about the shots a team makes, but sometimes, like on Thursday for the Athol boys summer basketball team, it’s about the shots the team doesn’t make.
Although Athol had not held the lead at all during Thursday’s contest against Leominster, the team trailed by five points with three minutes left in the game. Athol fouled once, missed a jumper and then missed a 3-pointer in its final three possessions, which all turned into Leominster points, in its 65-53 on Thursday.
“Exactly, it’s those missed opportunities where I told them that all those missed opportunities were just running the floor,” said Athol summer coach Mark Ferrari Sr. “We started to run the floor and they saw the picking and the cutting and the rolling and they’re coming a long way.”
Leominster entered the contest in first place and improved to 10-0 on the summer season. Athol fell to 1-9.
“I didn’t know they were in first place to be honest with you,” said Ferrari Sr. “I wanted to build upon what we did last game and I think we did that. I think we played with intensity. We were in that ball game. I’m very happy with what they’re doing, they just need to learn a little bit more and they’re doing well.”
Emotionally, Athol has had its highs and lows throughout the season. It was the second game in a row where Athol seemed calm and collected on the court. The players didn’t panic down the stretch, even when they went down by 12 with 10 minutes left in the game at 50-38. After Leominster connected on a layup to go up by 12, Athol took that and created an 8-0 run to move within four at 50-46 with eight minutes left in the game.
Athol had the crowd chanting for them as they mounted their run. A three from Leominster at the 7:26 mark to put them up by seven, 53-46, and silenced the crowd as Athol wouldn’t move any closer than six points of the lead for the rest of the game.
“Huge, huge,” said Ferrari Sr. about the three. “It gets them back in the game and I think we were just a little gassed to be honest with you. We only had one sub and they had numerous, so I was trying to give them timeouts at the right times.”
Leominster used its height to its advantage, out rebounding Athol 35-16, but never seemed urgent defensively. They stood under the hoop waiting for the ball to come to them and used their height to get the rebound, but never pressed Athol or hurried toward the ball. It allowed Athol to come close, but never allowed them to threaten for the lead.
Mark Ferrari led Athol with 17 points, while Brymere Edwards contributed a team-high five rebounds and nine points. Noah Pottinger and Angel Rivera contributed nine points each as well.
Athol has one last game on the summer season against Parker at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The team did not qualify for the playoffs, sitting five games out of the fourth and final seed.