Hawks punch ticket to Cage

SOUTH DEERFIELD — It’s not easy to hold a boys basketball team to seven points in a single quarter during the regular season, much less in the postseason when only the best teams are still playing.

Frontier Regional School held Palmer to seven points in the entire first half, Thursday night.

It was exactly the kind of statement second-seeded Frontier was looking to make as it opened play in the WMass Division 3 Boys Basketball Tournament, as it took a 32-7 lead at halftime and never looked back, cruising to a 61-26 victory over 10th-seeded Palmer High School in quarterfinal action at Goodnow Gymnasium.

With the victory, Frontier now advances to the semifinals to face third-seeded Narragansett Regional High School at Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass. It’s the first time Frontier will appear at Curry Hicks since 2008, when head coach Marty Sanderson helped guide the Red Hawks to WMass — and eventually State — titles. Frontier senior guard Kalen Evans, who had a big night on both ends of the floor and scored 14 points, said getting the chance to play in the storied building is something he has thought about for a long time.

“I’ve been trying to get there ever since I got to the school, I’m so excited,” Evans said of the opportunity. “Seeing the Clark’s (Brian and Dan) do it in 2008, we haven’t been there in 10 years. This is really special and not a lot of teams get an opportunity to play there.”

While Frontier (18-3) picked up the second seed in Division 3 and earned a bye through the first round, there were some doubts surrounding the team as it entered the tournament. The Red Hawks lost two of their final four games to end the regular season and had to settle for a first-place tie in the Hampshire League North along with Greenfield. Sophomore forward Peter Carey said that the team was looking to put those games behind them.

“We were very devastated after those two losses to teams that we blew out earlier in the season,” Carey said. “We’ve been working very hard in practice. We knew we had to come out firing. We all had nerves coming into the game, we just wanted to separate ourselves early.”

The Red Hawks were able to do that as they rode their two big horses early on. Senior center Carsten Carey (6-foot-8) and his sophomore brother Peter (6-foot-9) were unstoppable forces in the first half. The two combined for eight points in the first quarter as Frontier raced out to a 13-7 lead, and the duo added eight more points in the second quarter as the entire offense got rolling.

“Throughout the year we have been trying to work the offense inside out, and we really did that tonight,” Peter Carey said. “Then we hit some outside shots.”

Frontier coach Ben Barshefsky agreed.

“They draw so much attention because they are so big and long,” Barshefsky began. “When they are finishing down low, teams are even more likely to collapse on them, and that in turn opens up the outside. The key to their play is being unselfish, and when they are distributing the ball from the low block, it just opens everything up and that happened tonight.”

The second quarter was highlighted by the Hawks not only scoring 19 points, but also holding Palmer without a single point. Much of Frontier’s offense in the frame started from the back, including an early breakaway by Peter Carey that ended with him dunking. Later in the frame, Frontier scored breakaway layups by Owen Morse and Evans after each player stole a pass near the top of the key.

“I thought our rotations, defensively tonight, were crisper than they have been,” Barshefsky said. “When we are locked in and have all five guys on the same page, it’s tough to score against us.”

The second half was devoid of any real drama, as Frontier maintained a lead of more than 20 points throughout. Four Frontier players finished in double figures. Morse scored a team-high 16 points, including a team-leading seven in the second quarter as Frontier pulled away. Carsten Carey finished with 15 points, Evans added 14, and Peter Carey notched 11, but was also a major factor on the defensive end.

Carsten said that his younger brother continues to gain confidence in several aspects of his game, which is crucial to the team’s success.

“For him to be impactful, he has to be confident in his ability to drive the ball, shoot the ball and slam it on their heads,” he concluded.

Joe Lombardi finished with 13 points in the loss.

Frontier now waits to find out when it will finally make a return to Curry Hicks, as the time and date was still to be determined as of press time.

Frontier 61, Palmer 26

Palmer (26)

Placanico 2-0—6, Lombardi 6-1—13, Letendre 2-0—5, Williams 1-0—2. Totals 11-1–26.

Frontier (61)

Evans 6-0—14, Gochinski 1-0—2, P. Carey 4-3—11, Morse 7-0—16, Jones-Thomson 1-1—3, C. Carey 6-3—15, Sharp, Barrington, Robinson, Machon, Richter, Nuerminger, Walkowicz. Totals: 25-7–61.

3-Point Goals: (P) Placanico 2, Letendre. (F) Evans 2, Morse 2.

Score by quarters: