SOUTH DEERFIELD — While Division 1 West Springfield High School may have an advantage in population size, Frontier Regional School benefited from its own size advantage, Wednesday night to best the Terriers, 54-43, in an independent boys basketball game at Goodnow Gymnasium.
Senior Carsten Carey was a force in the paint all night long, finishing with a game-high 22 points while corralling 30 rebounds. West Springfield didn’t have an answer for the big man, who used his height to dominate inside with all eight of his field goals coming near the basket.
Carey was also able to keep the Terriers (8-6) from attacking the rim, swatting away incoming shots and not allowing them to get second-chance opportunities with his rebounding.
“As skilled of a player as he is, we’ve challenged him to get better,” Frontier coach Ben Barshefsky said. “He posted up really hard tonight, which is an area of growth for him. I also thought he kept the ball high and squared up to the basket and was able to find teammates on the weak side.”
With an obvious size mismatch, Carey knew his teammates would be able to find him in the post, and once West Springfield adjusted and sent guys to double, his teammates were ready to hit outside shots.
“I hope we can take advantage of it and that everybody can be on the same page that that’s there,” Carey said. “Sometimes, with having a height advantage, you get harder defense. I just started squaring up to the hoop and finding my open guys. We have good 3-point shooters, so we can hit it from outside and hit it from inside.”
The Red Hawks got out to a hot start offensively, taking an early 11-5 lead before going on a 13-2 run in the second quarter to widen the scoring gap. The offensive momentum carried over into the halftime break, with Frontier holding a 34-16 lead.
Playing against a higher level of competition, Barshefsky was pleased with the start his team was able to get out to.
“We talked tonight about how the competition was what we saw in the mirror,” he said. “That’s no different from any other night. It’s not who you play, but how you play.”
With its offense clicking, the defense was able to step up and limit the Terrier attack to just nine points in the second quarter.
“Our height inside on the defensive end allows our perimeter players to be a little more aggressive and take chances they normally wouldn’t,” Barshefsky said. “Offensively, it’s a tough matchup for opposing teams. They have two, sometimes three guys collapsing which opens up scoring opportunities and spreads the floor for everyone else.”
West Springfield was able to get its offense going to start the third quarter, knocking down two 3s, but was never able to close the gap by getting stops on the defensive end. Both teams scored 10 points in the quarter as Frontier held onto its 18-point lead.
The Terriers saved their best quarter for last, but it was too little too late, and were never able to cut it to within single digits as Frontier cruised to victory.
Nicholas Toma led West Springfield with 8 points, while Ian Alves chipped in 7 of his own.
Owen Morse had 14 points, including a pair of 3s. Sophomore Peter Carey put in 8 points.
The win moves the Red Hawks to 13-1 on the season, as they look to keep the win streak going Monday against Hopkins.