AMHERST — Trailing for much of the game, the Mahar Regional School boys basketball team made a run at Pittsfield on Saturday.
The comeback bid came up short in a 56-52 defeat at the hands of the Generals at the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage.
“I told the kids there were times in the locker room last year where we wanted to kill each other,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “This wasn’t the same type of situation. I loved the way the guys competed today. Just a lot of little things we didn’t do well.”
Pittsfield (1-0) grabbed several key offensive rebounds and made 10 3-pointers throughout the game.
“Second chance opportunities,” Softic acknowledged. “Finding guys in transition.”
Mahar (0-1) had an answer anytime the Generals started to build a lead, including down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
The Senators went into the final frame trailing by seven points, and eventually trailed 52-44 in the final quarter.
That’s when Softic’s club started to make things happen.
Charlie Barnes knocked down two free throws before a bucket by Aden Santana made it 52-48.
Barnes then executed a picturesque pick-and-roll with Jakob Carron for another easy two points. The Generals made enough free throws down the stretch however to put the Senators away.
With under a minute to play, Mahar had a chance down by only one possession. But a moving screen call gave the ball back to the Generals.
“We got down by 13 and found a way to get back into the game,” Softic said. “Just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Santana scored 17 points with nine rebounds for the Senators.
“Like a lot of us, (Santana) got better as the game went on,” Softic said. “I thought he played a little fast early in the game. But then he let the game come to him and he settled down a little bit.”
Carron played well in the paint, scoring eight points with nine rebounds. Between Santana and Carron, the Senators got a lot of production from their bigs.
“That interior is really going to be a strength as the season goes on,” Softic said.
Barnes had another dynamic game playing point guard for the Senators with eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He led the defensive charge with five steals.
Mahar went man-to-man and mixed in zone with some press looks against the Generals defensively.
“I love the fact that we were more versatile,” Softic said. “We could press tonight. We can take that into the league. We can go uptempo. That was really our best part of the game, getting things done in transition.”
The Senators called a timeout with 2 minutes, 49 seconds left in the first quarter trailing 13-7.
After a 6-0 run by the Generals, Jake Tenney hit a couple short jumpers to cut the lead to 19-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Tenney scored 12 points with a 3-pointer for Mahar.
The offense got going in the second quarter but some accurate 3-point shooting from the Generals kept the Berkshire County squad in the lead at halftime.
The Generals began the third quarter on a 7-0 run, leading to a timeout for Mahar.
The Senators battled back and trailed 45-37 after a Noaha Chabot 3-pointer.
Craig Jackson scored 27 points for Pittsfield, connecting on six 3-pointers.
Mahar travels to South Hadley on Tuesday.
