ORANGE — Just over a month into the season, one Hampshire League boys’ basketball team remains unbeaten.
Prior to the year, most folks would have guessed that the unbeaten team at this point would have been Hopkins Academy, the team that finished last season without a loss. Some may have guessed Pioneer Valley Regional School as well.
Not many figured the only remaining unbeaten team at this point would have been Mahar Regional School. But that’s exactly the case. The Senators beat Turners Falls High School at its own game early on by pushing the tempo and the Senators cruised to a 77-51 win at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium on Thursday.
The Senators’ win, coupled with Hopkins Academy’s 63-60 loss to powerhouse Palmer High School on Thursday leaves Mahar (10-0) as the lone team in the HL without a loss. The Senators also qualified for the postseason with the victory. Mahar will get another chance to make a statement Tuesday in Hadley, when they travel to Hopkins Academy for a huge game in the standings.
Most nights the Senators try to take the air out of the ball and beat teams with a suffocating defensive effort, and while Mahar did not lack in the defensive department, it was the up-tempo offensive performance in the first-half that led to the hosts building an insurmountable lead at the break.
Mahar came into the game with a decided edge in height and the Senators took advantage of that, controlling the boards. Whenever Mahar did rebound the ball off a Turners Falls miss, the Senators looked to get out into transition in a hurry, throwing the ball over the top of the Turners Falls defenders and getting some easy hoops. That is usually the Indians’ recipe for success, and it also made it difficult for the Indians to use their full-court press defense.
“Turners was putting a lot of pressure on us, and if they were going to do that, we had to finish on the backside,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “Our guards did such a great job breaking the press, finding some open spots and getting some easy hoops.”
Another thing that contributed to Mahar’s success was the fact that the Indians were unable to focus on any one player defensively. Five players finished in double-figure scoring for Mahar
“We scored 77, and that’s a lot for us. We usually we don’t get enough shots up to get to 77,” Softic said. “When you have that many people scoring, you’ve gotta pick your poison. When everyone is playing well and feeding off each other and being unselfish, everyone is enjoying the game and it’s fun when that happens. You could see the energy when kids are feeling good about themselves. It’s contagious.”
The scoring was balanced throughout. Mahar scored 22 points in the first quarter as Bryce Cleveland and Brennan Mailloux each netted 6 points, while Gabe O’Lari had 4. Things never changed the rest of the way. Mahar led 22-11 after one quarter and 43-25 at the break.
The Indians (7-2) put together a 7-0 run to start the third quarter and cut the deficit to 11 points at 43-32, but Mahar answered with a 8-2 run to push the lead back to 17 points and the Senators were never challenged from there.
Cleveland finished as the leading scorer for Mahar with 18 points to go along with 6 rebounds, and Isaak Reinikainen dumped in 16 and had a double-double, finishing with 11 rebounds as well as 3 assists and 2 steals. Sam Paul added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, O’Lari had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and Mailloux had a nice line with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.
Mahar also got the job done on the defensive end, limiting a Turners Falls team that has been scoring in bushels to just 51 points.
“You’ve gotta give credit to Turners Falls. I thought their ball movement against our 2-3 zone was really good,” Softic said. “They hit the high post quite a bit, which other teams haven’t done, and I thought their Xs and Os were pretty good. We just did a ncie job in transition.”
Tyler Lavin led Turners Falls with 12 points. Tionne Brown and Kyle Bergmann each finished with 10.
Turners Falls hosts Athol High School Tuesday night at 7:30.