ORANGE — Chad Softic’s shirt sleeves could only roll so high.
The Mahar boys basketball coach’s suit jacket came off almost immediately after tip-off in Thursday’s season finale against Chicopee Comp. Not long after, the buttons on his sleeve were unfastened. As the Senators fell into a deeper hole over the course of the first and part of the second quarter, Softic rolled his sleeves higher and higher.
It all came to a head with 5 minutes, 18 seconds left in the second quarter at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium. Trailing 27-10 after the visiting Colts drilled three straight 3-pointers to open the period, the Mahar coach used his fourth and final timeout of the half.
“That was it,” Softic recalled in the hallway outside the gymnasium moments after the game.
Spurred by the brief “discussion” that took place on the bench during the timeout, the Senators made their run. A 17-2 spree followed, and buoyed by the calming presence of point guard Cole Johnson in the second half, Mahar made its final case for a spot in the upcoming MIAA Div. 4 state tournament a compelling one.
The Senators locked down Chicopee Comp over the final three quarters and won a game they had to win — ultimately scoring a 59-54 non-playoff victory that Softic and his team hopes will be enough to crawl inside the top 32 of the Div. 4 Power Rankings.
Mahar (7-13) sat in the No. 36 spot prior to this week’s slate, and the Senators went out and won a pair of games against Division 2 foes — Commerce and Comp — to make one final push at bumping up into the top 32.
“I just told the kids, I’ve coached in a state championship game, I’ve coached in Western Mass. finals and Cage games. This team, and this game, were just as important as those other ones in my mind,” Softic said. “Knowing how much it meant to the kids and how hard they worked, this game meant a lot to us and to me personally. It was no different than any big game we’ve ever had, if not more, given everything we’ve gone through the last two years.”
The Senators don’t know whether Thursday’s win was enough to get into the Big Dance, though they won’t have to wait long. Official seeds and brackets are expected to be released either Friday or Saturday.
But for a team that went 0-12 in the Hampshire League South and suffered more than a handful of unfortunate results along the way, responding from a 17-hole deficit during Thursday’s win sure felt like more than that.
“I told them in that timeout, you just gotta put it on the line,” Softic recalled of the second quarter meeting of the minds. “This is it fellas, if we want to play any more basketball, this isn’t good enough. We talked about having a sense of urgency on every possession and after that, they had it. They were dialed in and I just couldn’t be any more proud of those kids. They battled all year. To have something good happen to these guys, they deserve it.”
The 17-2 run did get the Sens back into the game, though the Colts (4-16) still led 31-27 at halftime.
But while Comp was able to get the ball to open shooters in the first half, that wasn’t quite the case when the teams came back out following intermission.
“Just extending out a little further and not turning our backs on the perimeter,” said Softic of the defensive adjustments. “We weren’t going to give up the perimeter.”
Instead, the Senators controlled tempo in the second half and brought the game back to their preferred pace. Johnson orchestrated the offense, with help from Gavin Sullivan, and found Hunter Martin on the perimeter to space the floor. That opened up the interior for Connor Sluder and Will Barnes, who dominated the paint against an overmatched Colts front line.
“Cole… the last three games he’s just been rock solid. And we needed him. He kind of settles us down,” Softic lauded.
Mahar took its first lead of the night when Sluder’s free throw made it 41-40 with 3:18 left in the third quarter. While the team’s center went down late in the period with an injury, he managed to check back in early in the fourth.
“What a warrior he was tonight,” said Softic.
Johnson’s layup to open the fourth gave Mahar the lead for good (47-45). With 4:41 to play, the floor general found a cutting Barnes under the hoop for a wide open layup that made it 51-45.
Comp didn’t make its first field goal of the fourth quarter until there was 34 seconds remaining, and while the visitors drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to ultimately get within two points, Mahar did just enough at the free throw line to hold on. The Colts missed a potential tying 3 with 3.1 seconds left, and Sullivan sank two from the charity stripe to put it out of reach.
Now the Senators play the waiting game. Softic said they’d like nothing more than to keep playing, to get a taste of state tournament action in the new format’s first iteration. That’s out of their control, but regardless of whether they do punch a ticket, the veteran coach said he’s happy they at least gave themselves a chance.
“It’s a group of kids that believed and they battled until the last game on their schedule,” he said. “I can’t ask for anything more from a group.”