ORANGE — Deven Patch scored 22 points for the Mahar boys basketball team in a 83-49 win over Phoenix Charter Academy on Monday night.
The Senators (11-4) led throughout against the Flames.
The game against Phoenix Charter Academy was scheduled after Leominster High School had to cancel its game against Mahar.
“Leominster over-scheduled,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “They didn’t do us any favors. We were happy (Phoenix Charter) picked us up and we got the game in.”
Phoenix Charter was founded in 2014 for at-risk students out of Springfield, and the basketball team is playing its first season in the MIAA.
The school has locations in Chelsea and Lawrence as well.
Leominster informed Mahar two weeks into the season that it would not be able to play in Orange.
The change in scheduling will affect strength of schedule when the Walker System decides playoff seeding at the end of the season.
“We were looking forward to playing Leominster and having a big game here,” Softic said. “Leominster really didn’t help us.”
Mahar’s bench got plenty of playing time against the Flames as he starters built up a sizable lead by halftime.
“The biggest thing was just no bad habits,” Softic said. “We are trying to eliminate needless fouls. Stupid turnovers. We just wanted to be strong with the ball tonight. For the most part we did a pretty good job of that.”
The Flames played an aggressive brand of defense against Mahar, although it might have been too aggressive as they were called for 30 fouls.
The Senators went 24-for-41 from the line.
Patch established himself early with 12 points in the first quarter, including a two-handed dunk off a steal.
Charlie Barnes scored 13 points for Mahar, with two 3-pointers.
Jose Romero led the Flames with 14 points.
Mohawk 44, Athol 37 — The Red Raiders lost in Buckland after getting outscored 16-7 by the Warriors in the fourth quarter
Geca Baptista scored 10 points for Athol (3-10) with Jenna St. Cyr adding eight.
Reily Polana scored six points on two 3-pointers for the Red Raiders.
Ware 51, Mahar 45 — A 14-point second half led to a road loss for the Senators.
Mahar (8-6) had a five-point lead at halftime.
Micalyn Mailloux scored 19 points for the Senators.
Jazmyn Vautour (12 points) and Tori Tenney worked the glass for 15 and 14 rebounds, respectively.
Frontier 42, Athol 27 — Chris Waslaske, Michael Harris and William Braccini were honored at the Red Raiders’ senior night, but the Red Hawks came out victorious in the match.
Waslaske was cleared by doctors to wrestle after hurting his head last Wednesday in a match against Mahar’s Petter Tattan.
Waslaske pinned KC Mattson in 1 minute, 38 seconds at 182 pounds.
Caleb Cox (152), Tim Yelle (126) and Josh Stevens (106) also picked up wins.
Stevens won a 11-7 decision over Matthew Brooks for his first varsity victory.
