NORTHFIELD — Basketball is a game of runs, as exemplified during Sunday’s Hampshire League South showdown between the Pioneer and Mahar boys basketball teams.
It was the Panthers that struck first, going on a 14-2 run early to take a 16-6 lead into the second quarter. The Senators answered in the second, using a 9-2 spurt to get back in the game.
Both teams traded runs during the third quarter, Mahar opening on a 7-3 run before Pioneer answered with a 10-3 run. The Sens closed out the third on a 10-1 spree, capped off when Lucas Isrow stole an inbound pass and laid it in just before the third quarter buzzer sounded to tie the game 41-41 heading into the final eight minutes.
The runs stopped for both teams in the fourth, and defenses took over. Both teams had managed just five points with 1:17 to play before Kurt Redeker hit a shot to give Pioneer a 48-46 lead.
Mahar turned the ball over on the other end and Brayden Thayer was fouled shooting a 3 with 18 seconds left. The sophomore drained all three free throws to give the Panthers a 51-46 lead, with Thayer later hitting two more from the charity stripe to help Pioneer come away with a 53-46 win at Messer Gymnasium.
“I love playing against [Mahar coach Chad Softic’s] teams,” Panther coach Scott Thayer said. “It’s always a good test because they’re well disciplined and they show you something new every time that you have to figure out. It’s like a rubik’s cube. This game could have gone either way. We made a few plays down the stretch and that seemed to be the difference. I’m proud of my guys for the grit and resiliency they showed.”
For Softic, it was the start of the game — as well as going 10-for-20 from the free throw line — that really hurt Mahar’s chances of getting a big road win.
“We don’t have much margin of error,” Softic said. “The start of the game was embarrassing. To come out with that lack of energy and focus in a big game like this stings the most. We dug in and did a lot of good things to get back in the game but mentally we made some poor decisions down the stretch and that’s the game. Plus they were better than us from the foul line.”
It was the Panthers’ top three scorers that got them out to the fast start. Josh Wood and Brayden Thayer knocked down back-to-back 3’s before Thayer knocked down a second straight shot. Kurt Redeker then got inside and converted an and-one, putting Pioneer ahead, 13-2.
Redeker opened the second quarter with a layup and later converted two free throws to put the Panthers up, 20-7. That’s when Mahar went on its first run of the game, with Cathal Davis scoring back-to-back baskets down low, Morgan Softic sinking a deep two and Will Barnes and Connor Sluder each making a free throw to cut the lead to 20-15 before Wood made a jumper to halt the run.
Sluder and Isrow both made shots in the final minute of the half to make it a 24-20 game but Panther Gavin Gammell hit a running floater from just a few steps in from half court as the buzzer sounded to give Pioneer a 27-20 lead at the break.
The Sens chipped into the lead throughout the third quarter, with Barnes, Gavin Sullivan and Sluder all scoring to cut the lead to 30-27. Both teams traded baskets before Brayden Thayer knocked down a 3, got inside for two and Hugh Cyhowski made a shot down low to put the Panthers up, 40-30, late in the third.
Hunter Martin responded with a pair of baskets for Mahar, Cyhowski made a free throw for the Panthers before Softic and Sluder scored for the Sens. Isrow’s steal tied the game going into the fourth.
Cyhowski opened the fourth with a bucket inside before Martin made a pair from the charity stripe to tie the game at 43.
Wood drilled a 3 with three minutes to go but Sullivan converted an and-one on the other end to tie the game back up at 46, the final basket the Senators scored in the game.
Mahar had its chances late, though turnovers plagued them in the final minutes, with Brayden Thayer executing at the free throw line to put the game away.
“When you’re out there shooting and just talking to someone it’s easy,” Scott Thayer said. “It’s the same shot if you’re down one or up one. You have to treat it the same. You’re not going to make them all.”
After falling to Quaboag on Friday, the Sens are hoping to end the regular season on a high note Tuesday, when they host Greenfield.
“We were much better today than Friday,” Softic said. “The Quaboag game was an anomaly. Those things happen. We have to get after it Tuesday night.”
Pioneer closes out its regular season Tuesday as well, hosting Frontier on Senior Night. A win would secure an HL South title for the Panthers.
“We accomplished something today,” Thayer said. “We’ll see what happens. We have to get some rest and we’re exhausted. Senior night should give us a boost. It’ll be a roller-coaster of emotions for our guys because we’ll be celebrating but we still have a game to play.”
West Springfield 5, Greenfield 2 — A big second period from West Springfield did Greenfield in on Saturday at Collins-Moylan Arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Terriers erupted for three goals in the second and tacked two more on in the final 15 minutes, as the Green Wave fell, 5-2, in an independent game.
Josh Bordeaux did all he could to keep Greenfield in the game, stopping 41 of the 45 shots he faced.
Jake Jurek and Derek Wissman found the back of the net for the Green Wave, with Jayson Smith, Hunter Smith, Matt Lavoine and Jack Laurie providing the assists.
Jurek made it 1-0 just 47 seconds into the second period, when he finished off a pass from Lavoine for a power play goal. The Terriers answered with three unanswered to close out the middle frame however.
Owen Hall and Luke Pouliot each tallied a pair of goals for West Springfield.