TURNERS FALLS — Getting to the Curry Hicks Cage is never an easy endeavor.
Turners Falls High School learned that lesson on Thursday night.
Amidst the first-half foul trouble and turnovers, however, No. 4 Turners never went away. Buoyed by a cast of reserves who seized their opportunities for increased minutes and ran with them, the Powertown kicked things into overdrive in the second half. With seniors Tionne Brown and Kyle Bergmann back leading the charge after sitting with early foul trouble, Turners used a huge fourth-quarter run to punch its ticket to the Cage. The blue and white put together a 19-4 run in the final stanza to pull away for a thrilling 73-63 win over No. 5 Murdock High School in a Western Mass. Division IV quarterfinal before a raucous home crowd.
“The crowd pumped everyone up and we fed off that,” said Bergmann, who finished with 14 points on the night including 10 in the fourth quarter. “People stepped up all over the place. It was that kind of game, we needed everyone.”
Trailing 55-52 early in the fourth quarter, Turners (14-8) made its move. With Brown rested after sitting for most of the second quarter when he picked up his third foul, the home side got out in transition and wore down the visiting Blue Devils. Bergmann kicked off the spree with six straight points before freshman center Anthony Peterson, who certainly didn’t play like a rookie, added a layup. Then it was Brown’s turn, as he sank a layup and nailed a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:07 remaining. Another Bergmann hoop capped what would ultimately be a 19-4 run, as Turners took control of the game up 67-57 with 2:34 to play.
“Just momentum,” said Brown of the fourth quarter run. “When you make a couple big plays, that starts to spread throughout the lineup and everyone starts playing with more and more confidence.”
Murdock (13-8) couldn’t keep up with the frenetic Turners pace down the stretch, as the Devils managed just 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the way we have to play,” offered Turners head coach Gary Mullins of the uptempo style. “When we get rolling, we’re able to score and force some teams out of their comfort zones. It turned the tide in this game.”
Murdock head coach Matt O’Malley admitted his team didn’t perform well down the stretch.
“We’re a little inexperienced in big games and that showed a bit,” he explained. “We have a lot of guys who have played in some big situations but maybe haven’t had success in those situations and that takes time to learn. It was pressure-packed in the fourth quarter and we lost our bearings.”
Murdock cut the deficit to 71-63 with 51 seconds remaining, but Nick Croteau (12 points) answered with a layup and Turners forced a turnover that enabled the squad to dribble out the clock and advance to the semifinals.
With both Brown and Bergmann sitting for much of the second quarter, players like Javoni Williams, Jimmy Vaughn and Jeremy Wolfram were thrust into big minutes with sophomore Tyler Lavin (11 points) handling the point guard duties in Brown’s absence. Not only did the unit stem the tide, they brought Turners back and tied the score 33-33 at intermission.
“You have to have faith in your team that they’re going to play well in a situation like that,” Brown said. “Those guys kept us in there when we were on the bench.”
Murdock pulled out to a 47-41 lead — its biggest of the night — with 3:45 left in the third after a Nick Roy 3-pointer. That forced Mullins’ hand, and he re-inserted Brown and Bergmann into the game despite the three fouls.
“T’s our leader and Kyle is such a steady presence for us that to lose those two guys really hurt us,” Mullins said. “We just wanted to survive as best as we could and go from there once they went back in.”
Brown immediately made his mark. Playing hungry after sitting much of the night, he scored 7 straight points to bring Turners back within three, 51-48. Wolfram hit a bucket to cut the lead to just one, setting up one of the most memorable plays of the entire night. After forcing a Murdock turnover, Brown got out in transition leading an odd-man rush. With Bergmann to his left, the senior floor general dropped a behind the back pass for an assist on a layup that brought the crowd to its feet and gave Turners a 52-51 lead.
“I was ready to go,” Brown said of his second half performance. “At the half, Coach said, ‘We need a big half out of you.’ Once he put me back in, I was in attack mode the whole time.”
Brown dished out 5 assists to go with a game-high 19 points (14 in the second half). Matched against a sizable Murdock front line, Peterson had a monster all-around effort in the win. The freshman fell just one point shy of a triple-double with 9 points along with 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Croteau was another in the long line of standout performers on the night with his 12 points (two 3’s), while Lavin’s busy night forced him on the floor for tiring minutes running the point. Williams provided an energetic spark to the lineup with 6 rebounds and countless hustle plays.
“Javoni was our energizer out there,” Bergmann offered.
The meeting was the second of the season for the two sides, which played way back on opening night in December, a 77-65 Turners win. Much has changed since then for both squads, but the game was at least a base line for scouting purposes.
“We knew they wanted to run and push the pace… I’m pretty sure that’s always been a point of emphasis for their program,” O’Malley said of Turners. “They killed us in transition the first time we played them. We did a little better tonight but we couldn’t quite keep up with them in the fourth quarter.”
Murdock point guard L.J. Hicks was one of four Devils in double figures with 17 points, but the crafty freshman also played through foul trouble and was limited in his effectiveness by the Turners defense in the fourth. The visitors led 17-13 after one quarter but were unable to extend their lead in the second quarter with Brown and Bergmann on the bench.
The win propelled Turners into the D-IV semifinals and a matchup with top-seeded and defending WMass champion Hopkins Academy. The date and time for that game are still to be determined but it will likely be played on Tuesday at Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass.
“This is what you play for as an athlete,” said Brown of the semifinal trip. “It’s a great atmosphere against a great team but we’re excited. I got to play (at the Cage) as a sophomore but it’s going to be a little bit different going as a senior.”
No. 2 Granby High School and No. 3 Monson High School will meet in the other semifinal next week.