AMHERST — Kalen Evans left it all on the floor.
The Frontier Regional School senior dove after loose balls, fearlessly drove to the basket for tough hoops in traffic, and even found soft spots in the defense to unleash the lost art of the midrange jump shot.
But despite Evans and the second-seeded Red Hawks’ best efforts, third-seeded Narragansett denied them one final opportunity Tuesday night. The Warriors closed the game on an 11-5 run over the final 3 minutes, 23 seconds, turning a deficit into a 60-55 victory in the WMass Division 3 semifinals at the Curry Hicks Cage on the campus of UMass.
Frontier finished its standout season 18-4 overall, one loss shy of a spot in the sectional title game for the first time since 2008.
“Teams like this don’t come around every year,” Evans said of his squad, which had five seniors on the roster. “It’s a very special group of guys. It’s a group that’s very close-knit, always together.”
Evans scored 17 points to help Frontier stay on the cusp of victory throughout the night. It was the second-most points in the senior guard’s career, and he poured in 10 of those points in the second half with the game teetering back and forth on the edge.
“I think we played as complete of a game as we could,” he offered. “We definitely could’ve done a better job defending the (3-point) arc. We could’ve done a better job rebounding. There’s always things you can do better but at the end of the game, they had the run left in them and we didn’t.”
Evans led the charge in the fourth quarter. His steal and layup on the other end gave Frontier a 44-41 lead with 7:10 remaining, and he added a jumper just two minutes later to make it a 46-44 game. Narragansett took the lead for good when Tyler Dill drained a 3-pointer with 3:23 to play, giving his side a 52-50 advantage, and Damian Comeau added a free throw with 2:59 to play.
Evans wasn’t done, however. His layup with 2:45 to play cut the lead to 53-52, and he also banked in a hoop with 42 seconds left that pulled Frontier within 59-55. All told, he scored eight points in the final stanza.
But it was plays like the one he made with 2:10 remaining that typified what he he made with 2:10 remaining that typified what Evans is all about. After teammate Carsten Carey missed a free throw with his team trailing 55-53, Evans pounced on the offensive rebound. While corralling the loose ball, he fell to the ground with a Narragansett player draped all over him. Undaunted, Evans calmly signaled for a timeout, maintaining possession with his team trailing by just a single possession.
“I love the guys on this team so I was going to do anything in my power to give us another game,” he said of the play. “We’ve been playing together since fifth grade, a lot of us. So as long as I can play with them, I wanted to keep doing it.”
Evans’ efforts down the stretch were no surprise to Frontier head coach Ben Barshefsky, who holds his senior leader in the highest of regards.
“Kalen Evans never takes a play off. He’s a phenomenal person and an excellent leader who gives everything he has each time he steps onto the court,” lauded Barshefsky. “His contributions to the program, and that of our other seniors … it is so much more than what you see between the lines. And I’m proud of them all.”
There were eight lead changes in the second half alone during Tuesday night’s semifinal. Frontier took its largest lead, 40-32, thanks to an Owen Morse 3-pointer with 2:03 left in the third quarter. The Warriors (21-3) used a 19-13 edge in the fourth quarter to come from behind and advance to Saturday’s Div. 3 title game against top-seeded Sabis.
“There was no point throughout the game where we thought they were the better team,” Evans said of the Warriors. “We had confidence the whole time. It just didn’t go our way at the end.”
Despite the loss, Evans said playing the final basketball game of his Frontier career on the parquet floor of the Cage was the only way he wanted to go out.
“This was a dream come true,” he explained. “This is what I’ve been dreaming of ever since I picked up a basketball.
“To play in front of a crowd like this, in a venue like this, it was incredible.”