After suffering losses in two of its past three games, Frontier Regional School was very much in need of some momentum entering the postseason.
Athol High School didn’t make it easy on Tuesday night, but the Red Hawks got back into the win column. Carsten Carey poured in 23 points, and visiting Frontier ended its regular season with a 69-57 victory in the Hampshire League North Division finale at Mallet Gymnasium in Athol.
“We made (Frontier) earn it tonight, that’s all you can ask for as a coach,” Athol head coach Dan Bevis said of his team. “I’m proud of them, the way the kids finished this season.”
Frontier (17-3, 6-2 HL North) wound up as league co-champions along with Greenfield (11-9, 6-2) thanks to the victory. Kalen Evans scored 14 points, Alex Sharp followed with 9, and Peter Carey and Owen Morse added 7 points apiece for the Red Hawks, which should receive a top three seed in the upcoming WMass Div. 3 Tournament.
“We’re obviously undersized against them so our game plan going in was to pack it in, force them to make shots from the outside,” Bevis said. “They didn’t really do that in the first half but they did a great job crashing the glass, got second, third and fourth chances. That helped them weather their shooting woes.”
Frontier led just 19-17 after one quarter before extending the lead to 35-29 at intermission. It was still a single-digit game entering the fourth quarter, with the Hawks on top, 48-41 after three.
“Down seven (points) into the fourth quarter, you’re in the game,” Bevis said of his club. “That’s what you want against a team like Frontier.”
Mark Ferrari paced the Red Raiders (2-18, 0-8) with 17 points (five 3-pointers), and Bryce King joined him in double figures with 14 points. Brymere Edwards added 8 points and Riley Paine followed with 6.
“Tonight could’ve gone a lot of different ways, being our last game, eliminated (from the postseason) for quite some time now,” began Bevis. “But the guys really came in and played hard. Walking off the court tonight, there was definitely a little sense of pride from our kids.”
Smith Acad 51, Mohawk 40 — Jack Zigmont joined the 1,000-point club, and host Smith Academy rode a hot-shooting third quarter to get past Mohawk, 51-40, in Hampshire League North Division action Tuesday night in Hatfield.
Zigmont, who needed eight points entering the game to reach the milestone, finished with 16 points to pace the Falcons (9-11, 5-3). Despite the win, Smith was officially eliminated from postseason consideration as it needed an Athol win over Frontier to earn a share of second place in the HL North.
Smith led 13-7 after one quarter before the Warriors (6-14, 3-5) cut the halftime deficit to 22-18. The third quarter made the difference however, as the Falcons outscored Mohawk by a 24-14 margin, getting hot from the outside in the process.
“That third quarter was huge,” Mohawk coach Darren Schmidt said. “Smith did their thing. They hit some shots. We were unable to hit shots throughout the game, just had difficulty putting the ball through the hoop. But give Smith credit. They came out and played hard as a team.”
Anthony Moffatt drilled two 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 11 points for the Warriors. Cam Lococo provided the offense early, scoring seven of his 8 points in the first quarter to go with 10 rebounds. Jackson Hicks added 5 points and nine boards, while Shawn Davenport scored 6 points and Will Guyette had 2 points and seven rebounds.
McCann Tech 75, FC Tech 41 — On the road in North Adams, Franklin Tech’s postseason hopes came to an end Tuesday night.
Host McCann Tech built a double-digit first quarter lead and ultimately buried 10 3-pointers en route to a 75-41 victory over the Eagles in a Tri-County League North Division contest.
“They turned us over. We had 23 turnovers and they converted on the other end on most of them,” Franklin Tech coach Tim Artus said of McCann.
The loss dropped the Eagles to 8-11 overall, 2-8 in the TCL. The squad was officially eliminated from postseason consideration as a result.
Bruce Davis scored a game-high 23 points for the tournament-bound Hornets (14-4, 8-2). Franklin Tech held Keeghan Vidal (12.5 ppg) off the scoresheet, but Davis hit three of McCann’s 10 3s in the victory. The hosts led 17-5 after one quarter and 39-22 at halftime.
“We did a good job taking (Vidal) out of the game but Bruce Davis really stepped up and scored well for them,” said Artus.
Bailey Young stepped up and led the Eagles offensively with 16 points, while Garret Cole followed with 9 points. Sim Maniatty (5 points) and Jared Vielmetti-Perusse (4) also aided the cause for the visitors, which were once again without the services of two of their top three leading scorers in Marcus Sanders and Jared Bergmann (injuries).
“If you ask me, do I want Marcus and Jared on the team, of course,” began Artus. “We did miss those two players down the stretch here. But the players we have, there’s a lot of character up and down the lineup. We had a lot of kids really try and step up, and they’ll come back tomorrow and give it their best game again to finish out the season.”
The Eagles close out their slate tonight against Westfield Tech.
Frontier 69, Athol 57
Frontier (69)
Sharp 4-0—9, Evans 5-3—14, Robinson 1-0—3, P. Carey 3-1—7, Morse 2-2—7, Jones-Thomson 2-1—5, C. Carey 6-11—23, Nuerminger 0-1—1, Barrington, Gochinski. Totals 23-19–69.
Athol (57)
King 3-7—14, Edwards 4-0—8, Lutz 1-0—2, Paine 1-4—6, Ferrari 6-0—17, Tarbell 1-0—2, Stevens, LaMarche, Heath, O’Lari, Mason. Totals: 20-11–57.
3-Point Goals: (F) Sharp, Evans, Robinson, Morse. (A) King, Ferrari 5.
Score by quarters:
|
Frontier |
19 |
16 |
13 |
21 |
— |
69 |
|
Athol |
17 |
12 |
12 |
16 |
— |
57 |
Smith Acad 51, Mohawk 40
Mohawk (40)
Moffatt 2-5—11, Davenport 3-0—6, Hicks 2-1—5, Lococo 3-1—8, Cross 2-0—4, Guyette 1-0—2, Bassett 0-2—2, Sumner 1-0—2, Dubreuil, Matthews. Totals 14-9–40.
Smith Academy (51)
Gratz 5-0—13, Ferrara 1-0—2, Zigmont 5-4—16, Bechtold 2-0—4, Baranowski 1-0—2, Cavanaugh 1-0—2, Moynihan 1-0—3, Woodward 2-0—5, Markanowski 0-1—1, Dobson 1-0—3. Totals: 19-5–51.
3-Point Goals: (M) Moffatt 2, Lococo. (SA) Gratz 3, Zigmont 2, Woodward, Moynihan, Dobson.
Score by quarters:
|
Mohawk |
7 |
11 |
14 |
8 |
— |
40 |
|
Smith |
13 |
9 |
24 |
5 |
— |
51 |
McCann Tech 75, FC Tech 41
FC Tech (41)
Vielmetti-Perusse 2-0—4, J. Littlewood 0-3—3, Maniatty 1-3—5, Young 6-2—16, Cole 4-1—9, A. Demers 1-0—2, C. Littlewood 1-0—2, D. Demers, Wozniak, McLaughlin. Totals 15-9–41.
McCann Tech (75)
Sumner 2-0—5, White 1-0—3, B. Davis 10-0—23, Ziemba 4-0—11, Owensby 1-0—2, Beany 4-0—10, Jamros 4-0—8, L. Davis 0-2—2, Tovani 4-3—11. Totals: 30-5–75.
3-Point Goals: (FT) Young 2. (MT) Sumner, White, B. Davis 3, Ziemba 3, Beany 2.
Score by quarters:
|
FC Tech |
5 |
17 |
9 |
10 |
— |
41 |
|
McCann Tech |
17 |
22 |
17 |
19 |
— |
75 |