ORANGE — Charlie Barnes picked the right time to play his best basketball of the season.
With a playoff push on the horizon, the Mahar Regional School guard scored a career-high 31 points for the Senators in a 75-66 independent victory over Hampshire Regional at Grzesik-Bixby Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
The senior went supernova in the first half, scoring 24 points on three 3-pointers before intermission.
The Senators (8-6) rallied together just before game time, according to Barnes.
“We had a team meeting with a minute left (in warmups) when we stopped shooting around,” Barnes said. “We talked it through and got hyped up. We just went out there and played for each other and hit our shots.”
Whether it was getting in the paint or from outside, Barnes simply could not be stopped. He scored 15 points in the first quarter alone.
“It was great to see him attacking the hoop,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said of Barnes. “He was outstanding. We need that from him. He is capable of putting us on his back.”
Mahar now needs two wins to qualify for the playoffs with six games left on the schedule.
“It’s a good win,” Softic said. “Hampshire is a hungry team with a lot of talent. Just have to keep moving forward. We still need two (wins) to make the tournament and we don’t have an easy game on the schedule.”
Even with Barnes’ electric first-half performance, the Senators could not pull away from the Red Raiders (6-10). Justin Forest kept Hampshire in the game with 28 points.
Mahar gave Forest multiple defensive looks, but Hampshire’s leading scorer was tough to stop.
“He is a great shooter,” Barnes said of Forest. “He can pull up from anywhere in the half court. You have to defend almost as soon as he steps over mid-court. He pulls up immediately. But we got in his face.”
Hampshire grabbed some momentum in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 49-39. With Mahar’s offense slowed down, the Senators needed a contribution from another source.
That’s when shooting guard Jake Tenney took the initiative. The junior scored seven straight points for Mahar to awaken the student section and give the Senators a larger cushion heading to the fourth quarter.
Tenney calmed down the Mahar offense with a runner off glass followed by a layup in transition off a nice feed from Cecilio Sanchez.
“I just wanted to attack the hoop,” Tenney said. “I wanted to score to motivate the guys. I thought if I could get some points, it would start the offense up again.”
Tenney followed with a 3-pointer right before the third-quarter buzzer. After the shot fell, he held his follow through before getting mobbed by teammates. Mahar led 56-42 going into the fourth quarter.
“I think it was a big (shot),” Tenney said of the shot. “It gave us some momentum and fired up the guys.”
A Matt Lyesiuk 3-pointer extended the lead to 59-42 early in the fourth quarter. The Senators had to battle until the end with a poor shooting night from the free throw line, and Barnes also fouled out with 52 seconds left.
Mahar went 16-for-38 from the line. Even with the tough run from the line, Tenney went 2-for-2 with seconds remaining to help put the game away.
“It was a little scary,” Barnes said of his time on the bench. “But I had faith in my team. I knew Jake Tenney was going to pull through with those free throws.”
Zack Notre and Jakob Carron did a lot of the dirty work in the paint, finishing with nine points and seven points, respectively.
The Senators started hyper-aggressive on both ends of the floor and took a 12-5 lead midway through the first quarter.
Barnes started out defensively on Forest and led the early scoring charge for the Senators.
Barnes hit a 3-pointer with 2:31 left in the first, giving Mahar a 17-5 lead. The shot from distance led to an early timeout by the Raiders.
A running jumper by Tenney at the buzzer sent Mahar into the second quarter with a 27-13 lead.
Hampshire made a run to cut the lead to 38-28 late in the second quarter. After a Mahar timeout, Barnes answered with a runner over Forest to bring the lead back to 40-28 going into halftime.
The Senators look to inch closer to the postseason when they host Hopkins Academy on Thursday.
