Mahar Regional School continued to show off its impressive defense this season and remained unbeaten with a 50-30 victory over Greenfield High School in a Hampshire League boys’ basketball game Monday night at the Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium Complex in Orange.
The Senators (7-0) held a talented Green Wave offense to just 2 points in the first quarter and 9 in the second to mount a 26-11 lead at the break and that lead was never challenged in the second half.
While Mahar is capable of scoring between 50-60 points on offense on any given night, coach Chad Softic said he knows his team’s ultimate success comes down to how well they continue to play defense.
“It takes special kids that want to buy into that, and I have really good kids,” he began. “These kids are a very gutty group. We certainly are not perfect, but they come to play and I have a lot of respect for that. It’s easy to have fun playing a run-and-gun style, but a lot of kids have to be unselfish to play the style we do.
“We are tough offensively because we have five guys who can score, but we are only going to win as well as we play on the defensive end,” he added.
One player who is getting the job done is point guard Brennan Mailloux, who has been the top individual defender for the Senators and who played man defense against Green Wave sharpshooter Kevin Mendez. Mailloux limited Mendez to a season-low 9 points Monday.
“Brennan Mailloux has been a Godsend for us this year,” Softic said. “When does a kid who is 5-foot-8 go toe-to-toe with a 6-foot-4 young man who is outstanding in his own right, and do the job that he did tonight. We did a great job with Kevin, who is such a talent, and it started with Brennan, but we had great awareness all night, even when we went to the 2-3 (zone) for a little.”
Mailloux also finished with a nice stat line on the night with 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Isaac Reinikainen led the Senators’ offense, scoring 20 points to go with 13 rebounds and 3 assists. Bryce Cleveland finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Sam Paul had 7 points. Quinn Gervais had 2 points and 7 boards. Gabe O’Lari did not play due to an injury.
Mendez led the Green Wave (2-4) despite his season-low 9, and Connor Joy dumped in 8. Tyler Boissonneault finished with 7 points, and Zack Avery added 6.
Mahar travels to Frontier Regional School tonight at 7.
“It doesn’t get any easier going to Frontier, it’s been a house of horrors for us over the years, and with a back-to-back, it will be that much tougher,” Softic said.
Greenfield hosts Palmer Wednesday at 7.
Frontier 44, Athol 17 — Frontier scored 24 points in the first quarter and went on to earn its first win of the season by defeating Athol High School, 44-17, in a HL boys’ basketball game Monday night at Mallett Gymnasium in Athol.
No one scored more than 6 points for the Red Hawks, who had 12 players score at least one point.
Frontier (1-4) led 24-5 after the first quarter and scored just 20 points the rest of the way, while Athol scored just 12 points after the first quarter. Ben Lowe, Carsten Carey, Kalen Evans and Myles Freeman each netted 6 points, and Kyle Spencer added 5.
Avery Clyatt led Athol (0-7) with 5 points, and Evan Saisa tossed in 4.
Pioneer 61, Mohawk 31 — Pioneer Valley Regional School used a big third-quarter effort to pull away from Mohawk Trail Regional High School during a 61-31 HL boys’ victory Monday night at Messer Gymnasium in Northfield.
The Panthers (4-3) held a 24-15 lead at halftime but outscored the Warriors (2-5), 21-5, in the third quarter to take command of the game.
Tucker Llewelyn finished with 12 points in the victory, while Mike Menard and Jordan Loughman each added 9 points. Jacob Hill had 7 points, 5 rebounds and a pair of steals, and Brendan Emond had 4 points and 6 boards. Jake Willis added 5 points, and Karl Wheeler and Nic Williams each added 4.
Ian Eckler paced Mohawk with 10 points. Danny Szafran had 6 points, and Adam Hallenbeck added 4.
Turners Falls 74, Smith Academy 31 — Turners Falls High School got a balanced scoring effort and cruised past Smith Academy, 74-31, in a HL boys’ hoop game Monday night at Sherry Webb Gymnasium in Hatfield.
The result was never in question, as the Indians (6-0) scored 28 points in the first quarter en route to a 28-9 lead that grew to 51-19 at the break.
Ricky Craver led Turners Falls with 15 points, while Jimmy Vaughn was the only other player in double figures with 11 points. Tionne Brown notched 8 points, Kyle Bergmann, Josh Obuchowski and Anthony Peterson each had 7 points, Tyler Lavin and Jeremy Wolfram finished with 6 points apiece, and Marcus Sanders finished with 5 points.
Matt Bouley led Smith Academy with 8 points.