WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Anthony Marra took a pass from Gabe Davis and knocked down a 12-footer with three seconds on the clock to lift the Wahconah Unified Basketball team to a 32-30 win over Mount Greylock on Wednesday evening.
Marra scored 22 points and Wahconah overcame a six-point second-half deficit to overcome a season-opening loss to the Mounties in Dalton.
More importantly, perhaps, both teams showed the raucous crowd just how much work they have done in the few short weeks since the season began.
“They’ve come a long way,” Mount Greylock coach Karen DuCharme said. “We’ve got kids who weren’t taking shots taking shots. They’re running up the floor a lot faster.
“They’re really into it, and it’s awesome to see.”
Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher agreed.
“They’re more comfortable with the flow,” Belcher said. “I think the flow is the hardest thing to get everyone in the flow of the game. And you can definitely see the improvement in both teams.”
Mount Greylock had the better of things early.
Behind Aidan Barnes (10 points) and Dakota Sunkis (12 points), the Mounties jumped out to a six-point lead. Olivia Pallos scored on a pass from Savanna Mabey to make it 10-4 about seven minutes in.
Pallos finished with six points in a balanced Mount Greylock attack.
It was still a six-point margin late in the first after Barnes went coast-to-coast to make it 18-12, but Wahconah closed the half on a 10-2 run to take the lead.
Helen Jamrog got things started with a bucket in the post, and then Marra caught fire, scoring eight straight, the last after he stole the ball at one end and got his own rebound. He converted the second-chance point to give Wahconah a 22-20 lead at the break.
Barnes scored three times early in the second half as Mount Greylock used a 10-0 run to retake the lead, 30-32. But Pallos’ putback to make it an eight-point lead was the last bucket Wahconah allowed.
Marra scored eight of the game’s last 10 points, and Jillian Menard scored from Dominque Brown for the other bucket as the visitors regained the lead just before the final buzzer.
When it was over, the Mount Greylock student section poured out of the stands to congratulate both teams, just as its counterparts at Wahconah did back on
Oct. 12.
“For not doing [Unified Basketball] in Berkshire County before this year, it’s just an awesome, awesome thing to watch unfold in front of our eyes,” Belcher said. “This is just great.
“I think what this does is put us back to what sports is all about. It’s about coming out, having fun. Yeah, we’re different schools, but we’re still one team as a county. You get that sense in here that maybe gets lost sometimes in the other sports, but here you can just feel it: People cheering for both teams, it’s just got a great atmosphere to it.”
The teams play one another one more time, on Nov. 8 in Williamstown.
