GREENFIELD — Three champions were crowned in the DRIVE League at Greenfield High School on Monday.
In the boys JV championship game to open the night Greenfield ran away with a 72-60 win over Hinsdale. In the men’s league championship game that followed Markol Strong took an early lead and never relented, leading to a 77-59 victory over OSC-Manning.
The boys varsity championship game between Greenfield and Mahar was competitive throughout, with the Green Wave holding on for a 69-62 victory. Greenfield closed out the summer circuit with an 11-0 record.
Caleb Murray controlled the pace for the Green Wave against the Sens, as the point guard put in a team-high 22 points, sinking four 3’s along the way.
“It feels good to win this,” Murray said. “This is a great way to end the summer. Our chemisty has gotten a lot better since the start of the summer. We’ve been working on gaining chemistry and our defense and both those things showed tonight. That’s why we came away with the win.”
With rosters in constant shuffle during the summer, the guarantee of a close, competitive game isn’t always there. That wasn’t the case between the Green Wave and the Senators.
Greenfield pulled ahead early and took a 40-33 lead into the half. Mahar went on a run in the second half to knot the game up with just over five minutes to play, but the Green Wave took the lead and didn’t give it back up, holding off a stingy Senator squad.
Murray says based on how Mahar had played them throughout the summer, he knew Monday’s championship game wouldn’t be an easy one.
“We only beat them by four the last time we played,” Murray said. “We knew we had to come in here and be ready to go. This is a good one to get ready for the season.”
Jon Breor finished with 20 points, Caleb Thomas made four 3’s to record 18 points, Jacob Blanchard scored six points, Grayson Thomas knocked down a 3 while David Hernandez added two points in the win.
For Mahar Jayden Delgado led the way with 14 points. Will Barnes, Morgan Softic and Lucas Isrow each scored 11 points, Marshall Ames tossed in eight points while Caleb Rodriguez scored three points in the defeat.
It was Grayson Thomas who led the way for the Green Wave in the JV championship game against Hinsdale, as he knocked down six 3’s to finish with a game-high 26 points.
Lopsang Rabten put in 16 points, Krish Patel scored 10 points, Tae Williams finished with six points, David Jung-Hernandez put in six points while D’Angelo Brown had four points in the victory.
Chris Colon led Hinsdale with 25 points while Connor Dixon added in 20 points in the loss.
In the men’s league title game it was Matt Petro who paved the way for Markol Strong on the offensive end, putting in 27 points.
Parker Hickey finished with 17 points, Tyson Dowdy scored 16 points while Dan Donoghue scored seven points in the victory.
For OSC-Manning Eric Pardee tallied 14 points, Owen Morse scored 13 points, Tom Manning finished with 12 points while Chase Berg recorded eight points.