GREENFIELD — All the good work put in by Greenfield High School to build a 15-point halftime lead Tuesday night unraveled in the blink of an eye.
Even with a 39-24 advantage over Mount Greylock in the first round of the Western Mass.Division 3 Boys Basketball Tournament, the Green Wave was guilty of 11 first-half turnovers. But that generous giving only accelerated through the final two quarters, when Greenfield coughed up the ball 14 times in the third and eight more in the fourth for a whopping game total of 33. Ninth-seeded Mount Greylock took full advantage to generate one-way traffic of its own, with a powerful 46-20 edge that gave the Mounties a 70-59 road win at Nichols Gymnasium.
The guard tandem of Toby Foehl (25 points) and Derek Paris (18) powered the Greylock comeback. The Mounties (15-6) pulled to within 48-47 at the end of three and grabbed the lead to stay at 53-50 on Foehl’s tie-breaking 3-pointer with 6:33 remaining. Malcolm Waynick also reached double digits for the visitors with 11 points. With 7-of-10 makes at the foul line in the last 1:25, Greylock made the game safe.
“Our kids showed the resiliency on the road, like they’ve done all year,” said Mounties coach Bob Thistle. “You’re down 15, it’s pretty hard to come back. Our goal was to cut it to 10, and then cut it to five, and then go from there. The kids made shots when it counted, we cranked up our defense in the second half. We were playing some pressure defense in the first half but not with that level of intensity. We didn’t draw it up this way, but it’s an 8-9 (seed) battle, and we’re fortunate and thankful to be moving on.”
No. 8 Greenfield (13-8) was paced by David Carey’s team-high 17 points, with Mason Meadows (13), Maverick Ward (11) and Henry Zwart (10) also reaching double figures.
“We’re up 15 at halftime, you tell the guys a hundred times the game’s not over yet, and the third quarter has been an Achilles heel for us all year,” said Green Wave coach Angelo Thomas. “We shot over 50 percent for the game, and we gave away (over) 30 possessions. It’s very, very disappointing the way that second half went.”
The Wave scored the first six points of the game before Foehl’s first trey of the night. Late buckets in the last 40 seconds by Zwart and Meadows gave the hosts an 18-10 lead after one.
Carey knocked down a triple with 6:15 left in the half to put Greenfield up 25-13, forcing a Greylock timeout. The Mounties pulled to within 28-22 before Greenfield’s late 11-2 blitz to close the half, featuring long-distance hits by Zwart (two) and Carey, all coming in the last 1:55.
Then it was Greylock’s turn to start the half brightly, with the first six points to make it 39-30, and Greenfield called a timeout. At 44-33, the Mounties then ran off eight in a row. Their defensive pressure certainly gave the Green Wave fits, but Greenfield was equally guilty of numerous unforced giveaways.
“We just needed someone out there to calm everything down,” said Thomas. “We got panicky. Leadership comes into play, and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Chase Doyle and Paris scored buckets off turnovers seven seconds apart in the last half-minute to pull the Mounties within 48-47. Foehl was then fouled in the act of shooting a 3-pointer at the top of the fourth quarter and stuck all three freebies, allowing Greylock to take its first lead of the night at 50-48 with 7:46 to play.
After Ward’s layup re-tied the game at 50, Foehl banged a 3 for the lead that Greylock kept until the end.
The Mounties used a healthy 23-4 advantage at the foul line to maintain control.
The teams were meeting in Western Mass. tournament play for the first time since 2004, when Greenfield won a Division 2 semifinal, 55-40.
Mount Greylock moves ahead to a quarterfinal Friday night at 7 p.m. in Baldwinville, facing No. 1 seed Narragansett Regional High School (19-3).