ATHOL — The smaller players played a big role for the Mahar boys basketball team in a 52-29 win over Athol on Friday night.
Guard Jordan Desrosiers scored 15 points for the Senators (5-2), spoiling the night for the home crowd at Athol High School.
“You just have to take it in and go with the moment,” Desrosiers said.
Mahar pulled away a little more in each quarter.
“We needed to come out a little stronger,” Desrosiers said. “The second half was pretty good. Our defense was amazing.”
Fellow guard Charlie Barnes also played well for Mahar, scoring seven points all in the first half.
Meanwhile for the Red Raiders (2-5), the offense was relatively stagnant for most of the game as Mahar’s zone kept them away from the hoop.
“We didn’t make shots,” Athol coach Dan Bevis said. “It wasn’t anything that drove us crazy. We just couldn’t knock anything down and they were able to collapse and take away passing lanes as well as the high post.”
The slow start for Mahar was not lost on coach Chad Softic.
“I thought the end of December would bring an end to ugly basketball,” Softic said. “But we were able to put together a few good minutes in the second half to get separation.”
Behind an energized crowd the Red Raiders got off to a good start in the first quarter, but could not sustain the momentum when Mahar started to score consistently.
Nobody on the Red Raiders reached double-figure scoring.
Mark Ferrari led Athol with six points with Nathan Heath adding five.
Noah Pottinger and Nick Bousquet had four points each.
Chants of “it’s all over” from the Mahar fans started echoing throughout the gym with around two minutes left.
The visiting crowd went crazy when second-teamer Aiden Lupien swished a late 3-pointer for the Senators.
Mahar put the game out of reach in the third quarter.
A Desrosiers 3-pointer late in the third quarter gave Mahar its biggest lead at 35-20.
Barnes set up Ely Gonzalez for a layup to increase the lead to 37-20 headed into the fourth.
The Red Raiders faced a 24-16 halftime deficit after a slow second quarter.
