Mohawk picks up statement win over Falcons

The Mohawk Trail Regional High School boys basketball team rebounded in a big way Monday night

After losing to Greenfield by 41 points on Saturday, the Warriors registered one of their biggest wins in years, knocking off Smith Academy, 55-50, in a Hampshire League North Division game in Buckland.

While the Warriors are still an up-and-coming team under first-year coach Darren Schmidt, the Falcons entered the year with three top scorers back in the fold as they looked to compete with Frontier and Greenfield atop the HL North.

Brett Gratz managed to score 31 points for the Falcons but the rest of the squad struggled. Mohawk, meanwhile, got 19 points from Jackson Hicks, and 13 points from Anthony Moffatt, while seven players scored, and two others had at least seven points.

Mohawk sandwiched a 62-21 loss to Greenfield on Saturday with a pair of league wins to improve to 3-5 on the season. Last season, Mohawk went 1-19.

“We’ve been working on a lot of stuff, and it’s starting to stick,” Schmidt said. “Our defense has been steadily getting better, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Owen Cross netted 8 points for the Warriors, and Tyler Dubreuil added 7 points.

Pioneer 70, Mahar 60 — If Pioneer’s outside shooting is on, watch out.

Such was the case Monday night. The Panthers drilled a whopping 13 3-pointers, including 11 combined from Garrett Cote and Troy Emond. That performance lifted the visitors to a 70-60 victory over Mahar in a Hampshire League South contest in Orange. The win secured the season sweep over the Senators, as Pioneer also won when the teams played at the Curry Hicks Cage back in December.

“We have to tip our caps to Garrett and Troy,” began Mahar coach Chad Softic. “They shot the ball so well and I thought our recognition was good. Pioneer hit 13 3s tonight and that was the difference.”

Pioneer (7-1, 4-0) led 16-12 after one quarter and 30-24 at halftime before exploding for 40 points in the second half to run past the Senators.

Cote and Emond each scored 25 points, a rare feat against a historically strong defensive program in Mahar. Ryan Underwood and Zack Fox added 6 points apiece.

Mahar (5-3, 1-2) received a double-double from Eli Gonzalez, who posted 16 points and 10 rebounds. Charlie Barnes added 10 points in what was a strong outing despite dealing with an ankle injury.

“We got a gutsy effort from Charlie tonight, he rolled his ankle (Sunday) and we didn’t know what his status would be,” said Softic. “He’s been our go-to guy all season and he had another warrior effort.”

Jordan Desrosiers notched 9 points for Mahar and Deven Patch followed with 8.

Pioneer heads to play Duggan in an independent game Wednesday while Mahar hosts Hopkins on Thursday.

Turners 71, Hopkins 59 — Tyler Lavin continued his hot offensive start to the season, going for a career-high 27 points Monday night to help Turners Falls pick up an impressive 71-59 road victory over Hopkins Academy in a Hampshire League South contest in Hadley.

The senior guard hit three 3-pointers en route to his big outing, which upped his season average to 16.9 points per game.

The win stopped a seven-game losing streak to the Golden Hawks (5-4, 1-1), as the last time Turners beat Hopkins was Feb. 3, 2015.

The visiting Thunder (4-5, 1-2) made a statement early, jumping out to a 22-9 lead after one quarter on the road. It was 35-18 at halftime, and while Hopkins cut into the deficit with a 29-19 edge in the third, the Powertown closed things out with a solid fourth frame.

Anthony Peterson scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the win, while Chace Novak posted double-digit points for the third game in a row with 16. Kyle Dodge tossed in 5 points.

Turners hosts Belchertown in another HL South game Thursday.

FC Tech 66, PV Christian 37 — Pioneer Valley Christian Academy could not find an answer for Garret Cole on Monday evening.

The Franklin County Technical School big man dominated in the low post with 23 points and 18 rebounds to help the Eagles get back on track with a 66-37 victory in Turners Falls.

Franklin Tech entered the game off a lopsided loss to Turners Falls on Friday night but got a big defensive effort against Pioneer Christian to get back on track.

“This was a great team win,” Franklin Tech coach Tim Artus said. “We got back on the plus side of rebounding tonight, which was important for us. It was really just about how we played. We played as one unit, not a group of individuals.”

Cole’s double-double made him one of three Eagles in double figures and he added three steals to go along with it.

“Garret made a point to go down low and fight for every rebound he could get,” Artus said. “He moved well without the ball and we were finding him.”

Jared Bergmann finished with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists in the win, and Marcus Sanders added 11 points, two assists and two steals. Bailey Young made his season debut and added 6 points, three steals, three rebounds and two assists, and Justin Littlewood chipped in 7 points.

Matthew Porter led Pioneer Christian with 11 points, while Noah Connor and Luke Story each chipped in 9 points.

Frontier 52, Athol 28 — Carsten Carey poured in 20 points and host Frontier jumped out to a double-digit first-quarter lead en route to a 52-28 victory over Athol in a Hampshire League North boys basketball game Monday night at Goodnow Gymnasium in South Deerfield.

Frontier (6-1, 2-0) became the last unbeaten team in the North standings with Smith Academy’s loss. The other four teams in the league all have at least one North defeat.

The Red Hawks led 16-4 after one quarter before extending the advantage to 31-16 at intermission.

Peter Carey added 8 points for Frontier, followed by Alex Sharp with 6 points and Kalen Evans with 5.

Athol (2-6, 0-3) was led offensively by Mark Ferrari’s 11 points. Noah Pottinger, Riley Paine and Brymere Edwards all scored 4.

Frontier heads to Smith Academy Thursday while Athol hosts Greenfield.

Pioneer 70, Mahar 60

Pioneer (70)

J. Fox 1-0—3, Emond 9-2—25, Hubbard 0-2—2, Fuller, Cote 7-5—25, Underwood 3-2—6, Z. Fox 3-0—6, Potter 1-0—3. Totals 23-11–70.

Mahar (60)

Desrosiers 4-0—9, Barnes 3-3—10, Lupien, Tenney 1-0—3, Chabot, Carron 3-0—6, Lyesiuk, Patch 3-2—8, Gonzalez 5-6—16, Watson 2-4—8. Totals: 21-15–60.

3-Point Goals: (P) J. Fox, Emond 5, Cote 6, Potter. (M) Desrosiers, Barnes, Tenney.

Score by quarters:

Turners 71, Hopkins 59

Turners (71)

Lavin 9-6—27, Campbell 2-0—4, Russell 1-1—3, K. Dodge 2-1—5, Kucenski 0-2—2, Novak 6-3—16, Peterson 5-4—14, Driscoll, Politis, Whiting, Waldron. Totals 25-17–71.

Hopkins (59)

Waldon 2-3—8, Berg 1-0—2, Ciaglo 6-5—20, Graves 3-5—12, Phifer 4-3—12, Tudryn 0-5—5. Totals: 16-21–59.

3-Point Goals: (TF) Lavin 3, Novak. (H) Waldon, Ciaglo 3, Graves, Phifer.

Score by quarters:

FC Tech 66, PV Christian 37

PV Christian (37)

Taft 1-0—3, Conner 1-7—9, Story 3-2—9, Ondrick 1-1—3, Porter 4-1—11, Deng 1-0—2 . Totals 11-11–37.

FC Tech (66)

Sanders 4-1—11, Bergmann 5-1—11, J. Littlewood 3-1—7, Maniatty 2-0—4, Young 2-1—6, Cole 10-3—23, C. Littlewood 2-0—4, LaClaire. Totals: 28-7–66.

3-Point Goals: (PV) Taft, Story, Porter 2. (FT) Sanders 2, Young.

Score by quarters:

Mohawk 55, Smith Acad 50

Smith Academy (50)

Gratz 12-0—31, Zigmont 4-0—10, Ferrara 1-0—2, Bartlett 2-0—4, Woodward 1-0—3. Totals 20-0–50.

Mohawk (55)

Moffatt 4-1—13, Davenport 0-3—3, Hicks 9-1—19, Dubreuil 3-0—7, Cross 3-2—8, Guyette 1-0—2, Bassett 1-1—3, Hoff, Lococo, Sumner. Totals: 21-8–55.

3-Point Goals: (SA) Gratz 7, Zigmont 2, Woodward. (M) Moffatt 4, Dubreuil.

Score by quarters:

Frontier 52, Athol 28

Athol (28)

King 1-0—3, Edwards 2-0—4, Paine 2-0—4, Pottinger 2-0—4, Bousquet 0-2—2, Ferrari 5-0—11, Lutz, Stevens, Tarbell, Heath, LaMarsh. Totals 12-2–28.

Frontier (52)

Sharp 3-0—6, Evans 2-0—5, Gochinski 1-0—3, P. Carey 3-2—8, Jones-Thomson 1-0—2, Boudreau 0-2—2, C. Carey 8-4—20, Nuerminger 2-0—4, Walkowicz 1-0—2, Morse, Robinson, Felton-Emrick. Totals: 21-8–52.

3-Point Goals: (A) King, Ferrari. (F) Evans, Gochinski.

Score by quarters: