ORANGE — Mahar Regional boys basketball coach Chad Softic knew it was going to be a rock fight against Turners Falls on Monday night at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium.
The Senators needed to win one of their final two games to secure a spot in the postseason, but didn’t want to go into Wednesday needing a road win against a fierce Leominster squad.
While the Thunder did their part to try to spoil the party, using an 11-0 run that lasted late in the third quarter and into the fourth, Mahar dug in, and junior Jake Tenney came through in the clutch to send the Senators to the tournament with a hard-fought 59-55 Hampshire League South victory.
“I always felt like the basketball gods would reward us,” Softic said. “These guys are great kids, they’re class acts, they go about their business the right way. I kept saying ‘We deserve better’ after the tough losses started piling up. These kids deserve it.
“Credit to Turners, they kept coming back,” Softic continued. “Just like Freddy Krueger, we couldn’t get away from them tonight. I can see why they’ve been playing so well.”
With the game tied at 55 with under 40 seconds to play, Mahar (10-9, 4-4) had possession but was aimlessly passing the ball around. Softic was forced to use a timeout with nine seconds left on the shot clock.
The Senators got the ball in to Tenney, who came off a high ball screen and took it hard to the rim. When he got inside, he jumped out, spun around and tossed the ball without seeing the basket. The basketball gods came through with an answer, as the ball knocked off the backboard and dropped in to give Mahar a 57-55 lead with 27 seconds to play.
“It was a prayer,” Tenney said. “I was happy it went in. We’re staying alive. It was a big win and we needed it. It was a team effort.”
Turners (10-10, 4-4) had one last shot to either tie or win the game, but the Senators dug down defensively and Cecilio Sanchez knocked the ball away from Chace Novak right into the arms of Tenney, who was fouled with two seconds left on the clock.
The junior knocked home both free throws to seal the win.
“He was immense in the fourth quarter,” Softic said of Tenney. “He made a bunch of free throws as well when it got tight. We had nine seconds left, the only thing we could run was a high ball screen. He got strong and it was a great finish in traffic. That’s why we’re talking about going to the tournament now, because of that play.”
The Thunder got off to a red-hot start on offense. Novak and Anthony Peterson drained their first two 3-pointers of the night to put Turners out in front, 12-4, midway through the first quarter.
From that point on, Mahar made a consistent effort to get out on the Thunder snipers, putting a hand in shooters’ faces and not giving any space for them to operate.
This allowed the Senators to get back in the game, and ultimately take a 24-22 lead into the half.
“We were casual with our closeouts,” Softic said. “We didn’t close out the way we should. You give shooters a little bit of space and they’re comfortable, they can make those shots. Novak and Peterson torched us the first time we played. We knew the scouting report, we just had to close out better.”
Mahar opened the second half on a 8-0 run to take control, with four points apiece coming from Tenney and Jakob Carron.
Marcus Sanders kept Turners alive in the third, scoring nine of his 12 points in the quarter. He knocked down a 3 with just under a minute left, and a score and a free throw by Jaden Whiting closed out the third with the Senators clinging to a 40-35 lead.
While Mahar was able to contain Novak and Peterson through the middle portion of the game, the two found their range in the final eight minutes of play.
Every time it looked like the Senators were about to pull ahead, either Novak or Peterson would come through with a clutch hoop. Peterson banged one home from downtown to knot the game at 46 and minutes later, after a Sanchez bucket and Tenney free throw, Novak knocked down a 3 to tie it back up at 49.
Mahar then went on a 5-0 run to go up 54-49 with 2:30 to play, but Novak converted an and-one to make it 54-52. Tenney sank a free throw with 1:35 to play but Novak followed it with yet another 3-pointer to tie the game at 55 with 1:24 to play.
Tenney and Charlie Barnes finished with 15 points for the Senators, with Sanchez adding 13 points and Carron making it four players in double figures with 12.
Novak led Turners with 18 points while Peterson added 17.
“This was a huge game for us,” Barnes said. “Leominster on Wednesday is going to be a really tough game to win so this was essentially our season. Jake Tenney and Cecilio Sanchez had huge plays in the fourth quarter and they pushed us above.”