Leading by six after the opening eight minutes, the Frontier Regional School basketball team knew it had to take it to another gear on the defensive end to push past Palmer and get into the semifinals of the WMass Division 3 Boys Basketball Tournament.
The Red Hawks did that, shutting out Palmer in the second quarter, outscoring them 19-0 to put themselves in cruise control for the second half.
“The players were laser-focused in practice the last few days,” Frontier coach Ben Barshefsky said. “We gave them a game plan and they executed the game plan. I thought their communication was phenomenal. They shut down cuts, they didn’t allow dribble penetration, which in turn forced Palmer to take contested shots every single trip down the floor.”
After both teams went scoreless through the first three minutes in the second quarter, Frontier began turning defense into offense. Sophomore Peter Carey got the energy in the gym up with a steal and breakaway dunk.
The avalanche began collapsing on Palmer from there. The Red Hawk defense pressed higher, creating multiple turnovers and cashing them into points on the offensive end, culminating in Frontier taking a 32-7 lead into the halftime break.
“We gave them a jab to the face,” Barshefsky said. “They were dizzy and we didn’t let them up. We kept them in the corner and kept going.”
One of the guys who got in on the defensive action was senior Kalen Evans. The guard forced multiple turnovers while scoring six of the teams’ 19 second-quarter points.
Evans felt the game would come down to defense, and his team succeeded in that category, leading to the 61-26 victory.
“I told the guys, ‘defense will win us this game,’” Evans said. “Defense has been the bread-and-butter for our team this whole year. We’re an amazing defensive team if we come out. It’s effort, we showed it in the second quarter and the whole game.”
With Peter and Carson Carey both standing over 6-foot-8, the Red Hawk guards are able to take more chances on the perimeter, knowing that they have height down low to defend the rim. This allows them to play aggressively, leading to more caused turnovers.
“They’re trees,” Evans said. “We get to go out and take away the 3-point line completely. If they get by us, good luck down there with those guys.”
Barshefsky went in with the game plan of taking away the two Palmer big men, Joseph Lombardi and Dylan Tenczar. The coach wanted to keep them away from the basket, feeling they do most of their damage on the block.
By pressuring the ball and dropping the weak-side wing, Frontier was able to limit the big man, holding Lombardi to 13 points and Tenczar scoreless on the game.
Carsten Carey knows that the Red Hawks’ size will be an advantage in any game, and they took full advantage of it Thursday night.
“Communication was huge, getting loud and letting the boys know where to go,” Carson Carey said. “Passion. You saw us, we were feeling it out there, once we get hot, we’re rolling.
“I’d hate to have to go up against a team with a couple 6-foot-8 guys. I’m sure other teams hate it as well.”