GREENFIELD — The first 16 minutes of action Tuesday saw the Drury boys basketball team take a double-digit lead, though Greenfield continued to hang around and trailed 39-25 at the break.
That changed in the third quarter however. Drury scored the opening 17 points of the second half to go ahead 56-25 with four minutes to go in the frame.
The Blue Devils continued putting the ball in the basket, taking a 69-36 lead after three quarters to pull away with an 83-50 Hampshire League South victory at Nichols Gymnasium.
“At halftime we always talk about how the first five minutes of the third quarter can go one way or another and it went the other,” Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas said. “We’re just not there right now.”
The Drury (5-1) run opened with a free throw by Zach Davignon. Ben Moulton then knocked down a 3, Timothy Brazeau scored inside and Davignon drained a 3-pointer to put the Blue Devils ahead, 48-25.
Moulton got to the rim for two, Davignon scored in the paint and Louis Guillotte used his athleticism to score a pair of baskets in transition to give Drury its 69-36 lead.
While the Blue Devils were on their scoring run, it was their defense that led to many of the baskets, turning the Green Wave (1-3) over and getting good looks the other way.
“That’s a good team and they have some good players,” Thomas said. “They have some strong seniors who are aggressive and I don’t think that we matched their aggression in the third quarter.”
Drury raced out to an early lead behind Guillotte and Brazeau. Brazeau knocked down a 3 and made another shot inside before Guillotte scored a pair in the paint to help give the Blue Devils an early 11-4 lead.
A pair of buckets by Moulton late gave Drury a 20-9 lead after eight minutes.
Greenfield hung around throughout the second quarter. Baskets from Jacob Blanchard and Jon Breor to open the frame cut the Blue Devil lead to 20-13 but Davignon swished a 3-pointer and made a corner jumper to put Drury ahead, 25-13.
Moulton caught fire to close out the first half. He made four shots from behind the arc in the final four minutes, including a shot from near halfcourt as the buzzer sounded to give the Blue Devils a 39-25 lead at the break.
Following Drury’s 17-0 run to open the third quarter, the Green Wave were outscored 13-11 to close out the third quarter, with Blanchard scoring a pair of baskets and Brendan Driscoll knocking down a 3-pointer.
Both teams scored 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Moulton led the Blue Devils with 24 points. Guillotte and Brazeau each added 15 points and Davignon scored 13 points in the win.
Breor finished with 17 points for Greenfield, with Tyler Podolsky and Blanchard each tallying nine points in the loss.
Thomas is confident his team has what it takes to turn its season around.
“It’s our fourth game of the season,” Thomas said. “We had some guys missing tonight and we got some young guys some minutes tonight. We’ll hit a stretch where we will be all right and keep it going. The Frontier game [earlier this season] was a winnable game, we got it down to single digits and we lost to Lenox at the buzzer. We’ll keep learning and keep getting better.”
Pioneer 76, Lenox 26 — The Panthers dominated from start to finish on Tuesday against the Millionaires, taking a 37-16 lead into the half and ballooning it to 59-18 after three quarters to pull away with the HL South victory at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
Alex McClelland and Jared Hubbard led the way with 14 points each for Pioneer, with Brayden Thayer adding 10 points. Jayden Fox, Kurt Redeker and Jalen McGraw each tallied seven points in the win.
Lee 61, Mohawk Trail 29 — The Wildcats put up 21 points in the first quarter to roll to a 61-29 win over the Warriors on Tuesday in Lee.
Stella Clark had 15 points for Mohawk Trail while Mya Lesieur scored 10 points and Rachel Pease added four points.
Quaboag 51, Mahar 21 — Nevaeh Scribner, Natalie Belloli and Saylor Kegans each scored five points in the Senators 51-21 loss to Quaboag on Tuesday.
Kegans pulled down 17 rebounds while Kendra Doane had two points and 14 boards in the loss.
Mahar 42, Southwick 36 – A trio of Senators won via pinfall to propel Mahar past Southwick in an independent match on Tuesday.
Abduli Gilmore moved up a weight class and won via pinfall in just 39 seconds at 113 pounds, while Dominic Cacciolfi needed just 34 seconds to score a pin at 145. Xander Roberts rounded out the pinfall trio with a win at 152 pounds in 1 minute, 39 seconds.
Mahar next travels to Agawam for a tournament on Thursday.
Frontier 49, Mahar 12 – Eric Larsson went for 13 points to lift Frontier past Mahar on Tuesday.
Diego Frazier scored seven in the win while Alex Ellis, Sunh Min Ahn and Garrett Dredge all tallied six points.
Mahar’s Aydon Davis led the way with seven points.