ATHOL — The Mahar boys basketball team pulled off a razor-thin 54-51 victory over Athol on Saturday at a raucous Mallet Gymnasium.
The Senators had to survive two separate 3-point attempts in the final seconds by the Red Raiders to snag an independent victory.
The Red Raiders trailed by 11 points in the third quarter before mounting a comeback and getting within one possession of forcing overtime.
“I am proud of the way we played,” Athol coach Dan Bevis said. “As a team we took step forward. A couple shots didn’t go down.”
With 16 seconds remaining in regulation, Noah Pottinger’s attempt from the corner just missed. Pottinger inbounded and immediately ran to the weak-side corner. A screen by Mark Ferrari gave Pottinger a good look but the contested shot rimmed out.
Jakob Carron snagged the rebound for the Senators, but Athol wasn’t finished trying to push the game into overtime.
Two missed free throws on the other end led to another desperation heave from the corner by Riley Paine. That final shot also missed the mark, and the Senators survived.
“To have two chances at the end of the game, that’s what you want,” Bevis said. “Given the history of the last couple years we haven’t had those chances.”
The Senators used an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to build their lead. During the run, Charlie Barnes hit two 3-pointers with an Aden Santana basket near the rim in between.
The defense got enough stops to secure the victory down the stretch. Mahar allowed only one field goal in the final three minutes of the game.
The Senators had lost two consecutive road games headed into Saturday’s contest with the Red Raiders. Outside of the second quarter and the fourth quarter run, Mahar had trouble generating offense.
“It was the same struggles that we have had,” Mahar coach Chad Softic said. “We go through these stretches offensively where everyone is looking for someone else to make a play.”
Matt Lyesiuk had seven points, all in a second quarter where the Senators pulled away heading into the intermission with a a 35-24 lead.
Jake Tenney hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer for the Senators to make it a double-digit advantage.
Tenney (10 points), Santana (12 points) and Barnes (10 points) were all in double figures for Mahar. Gavin Sullivan scored eight points off the bench with an expanded role.
“We just made a couple more plays than they did,” Softic said. “It’s something we can build on. Haven’t played particularity well on the road. We are searching for answers.”
Ferrari and Paine had big third quarters for the Red Raiders, putting their team in striking distance heading into the fourth quarter.
Ferrari scored six of his nine points during the third. A 3-pointer from Paine cut the Mahar lead to 44-42 with 1 minute, 3 seconds left in the third.
Paine (eight points) and Pottinger went a combined 4-for-6 in the early stages of the fourth quarter to give Athol a 46-44 lead with 6:54 left.
Paine recently returned to Athol’s lineup after missing the beginning of the season with a knee injury.
“He gave us some energy,” Bevis said of Paine. “He does some things well for us.”
Mahar answered with its 8-0 run to reclaim the lead.
Needing offense, Nick Bousquet hit a 3-pointer for the Red Raiders to make it a one-possession game. Santana went 2-for-2 from the line with 3:30 left, scoring Mahar’s final points of the night.
Pottinger scored through contact on a strong take to the rim to cut the lead to 54-51.
Pottinger scored 10 points for the Red Raiders with Bousquet also registering 10 points in the loss.
