A big fourth quarter, orchestrated in part by the work of Henry Zwart, propelled host Greenfield High School to a season-opening 56-48 victory over Palmer in an independent boys basketball game on Friday night at Nichols Gymnasium.
Zwart finished the night with eight points in the win for the Green Wave (1-0), but head coach Angelo Thomas said it was his decision-making that helped Greenfield pull away late.
“He stepped it up in the fourth quarter,” Thomas said of Zwart. “He was able to penetrate and started to pull up before taking charges.”
Greenfield led just 39-38 entering the fourth quarter, but quickly built the lead to double figures en route to the victory. Mason Meadows had a big offensive night, scoring a game-high 21 points, while freshman Mav Ward poured in 15 points in an impressive varsity debut. Ryan Cote scored five points and pulled down nine rebounds in the victory.
Greenfield takes to the road Monday to play at Easthampton.
Frontier 59, Easthampton 38 — The Eagles had no answer for Peter Carey inside on Friday night at Goodnow Gymnasium.
The 6-foot-10 big man scored 24 points on 12 field goals and pulled down 17 rebounds to move Frontier to 2-0 in the early season with a 59-38 victory.
“I thought tonight was a great team-effort,” Red Hawk coach Ben Barshefsky said. “The guys did a great job the entire night on the defense end which in turn forced some tough contested shots. Offensively, our spacing was drastically improved from game one and our ball movement.”
Sean Richter added 10 points for Frontier and Brett Robinson knocked down three 3’s.
Former Red Hawk Owen Morse led Easthampton with 13 points.
Baystate 67, Athol 50 — Travis Jordan scored 32 points, lifting visiting Baystate Academy to a 67-50 win over Athol in an independent contest played Friday night at Mallet Gymnasium.
Athol (0-1) trailed 33-24 at halftime, but used an 11-2 run to open the third quarter to tie the game at 35. Baystate responded however, closing the third on a 16-2 run to regain control and pull away for the victory.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” Athol coach Dan Bevis said. “There’s still a lot we need to work on but it was promising for the first game of the year.”
It was a balanced offensive night for the Red Raiders. Noah Pottinger and Bryce King scored 12 points apiece, followed by Mark Ferrari with 10 points and Nick Bousquet with eight.Athol hosts Franklin Tech on Monday night.
• Baystate won the JV game, 72-42, despite 10 points apiece from Athol’s Dilan Fountain and Aedan Erickson.
Ware 59, Pioneer 43 — After pulling back within shouting distance thanks to a solid third quarter, the Pioneer boys basketball team was unable to sustain that momentum in the final period on Friday.
Visiting Ware outscored the Panthers by a 14-2 margin over the final eight minutes to pull away for a 59-43 victory in an independent contest at Messer Gymnasium.
Keith Smith led all scorers with 27 points for Ware, which led 32-21 at halftime but saw that advantage cut to just 45-41 entering the fourth.
Ryan Potter paced Pioneer (1-2) with 15 points, all coming on 3-pointers. Jared Hubbard joined him in double figures with 13 points.
Renaissance 77, Turners 67 — Trailing by 20 points at the half, the Thunder shifted from a zone to a man-to-man defense to half the red hot Phoenix from the outside. The scheme switch was successful, but Turners was never able to completely close the gap, falling 77-67 at home.
Renaissance’s Eric Tynes finished with a game-high 22 points, knocking down a pair of 3’s.
Marcus Sanders continues to shine for the Thunder, finishing with 17 points while securing eight boards and dishing six assists.
Anthony Peterson had another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Whiting dropped 15 points and Chace Novak also was in double-figures for Turners with 13 points.
Hoosac Valley 71, Greenfield 30 — Last year’s WMass Div. 3 championship between the Hurricanes and Green Wave was a tightly-contested battle, but Hoosac got the better end of Greenfield in the rematch on Friday night, coming away with a 71-30 victory in the Hoosac Valley Holiday tournament in Cheshire.
Katie Haselton scored 16 points for the Green Wave, which trailed throughout. The Hurricanes led 50-15 at halftime.
Tina Reed and Racquel Provost added four points each for Greenfield.
FC Tech 48, Commerce 16 — Isabelle Duga and Jocelyn Crowningshield scored in double figures, and host Franklin Tech used a stellar defensive effort to roll past Commerce, 48-16, in an independent girls basketball game on Friday in Turners Falls.
Duga scored 13 points and Crowningshield added 12 points for the Eagles (2-1). Desiree Doane tossed in eight points while Gem Cruz followed with six.
Franklin Tech led 17-7 after one quarter, and held the Red Raiders scoreless in the second frame to cruise into halftime with a commanding 32-7 advantage.
Lee 61, Pioneer 35 — Emma Puleri set the tone early for the Wildcats at home against the Panthers.
The sophomore knocked down three 3’s in the first quarter to give Lee a 25-5 lead after eight minutes and they didn’t look back, as Pioneer fell 61-35 in its opening game of the season.
“Definitely a lot to work on,” Panther coach Michael Churchill said. “We came with a lot of energy but early on the barrage of 3’s put us behind the eight ball. My girls never gave up though, they fought to get back in the game.”
Puleri went on to score 23 points for the Wildcats. Paige Loughman led Pioneer with 18 points on eight field goals and Steph Scoville finished with eight points.
The Panthers outscored Lee 24-21 in the final 16 minutes of action.
Hopkins Academy 49, Mahar 41 — The Senators battled back but took a loss in their Franklin North opener against the Golden Hawks in Orange.
The Senators (0-3, 0-1) trailed by a point in the fourth quarter but could not get the clutch bucket to take the lead.
“It wasn’t bad in the second half,” Mahar coach Larry Fisher said. “We showed that we can play.”
Allison Kowal-Safron made a deep 3-pointer for the Golden Hawks that gave Hopkins the necessary cushion to pull away.
Delaney Parker (11 points) and Micalyn Mailloux (12 points) were both in double-figures for the Senators.
Mohawk Trail 46, Granby 18 — The Warriors picked up an independent win over the Rams in Granby.
Logan Moore (106 pounds) and Elliot Gougeon (120 pounds) both picked up wins by fall. Lillian VanVleet was victorious at 138-pounds, picking up a win by fall.
Jaden Moore (152 pounds) and Quinton Romer (160 pounds) also won by fall. Nate Wooldridge won by decision (18-7) at 182 pound. Super heavyweight Ethan Bower won by fall (2:43).