PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield boys basketball team secured a nice win at home, against Agawam, 74-64, on Tuesday night.
Malachi Perry led the way for Pittsfield (9-5) with a game-high 26 points. Makai Shepardson added 17 and Nunu Brown pitched in with 15.
It was a slow start for the Generals in the first quarter of play with Agawam dominating the offensive glass. The zone pressure from Pittsfield was having trouble keeping second chance points out of the paint and it led to an early lead for Agawam. It wasn’t until midway through the quarter when coach Jerome Edgerton switched it up and went to man-to-man defense. This kick started the offense with back-to-back transition buckets, something that Pittsfield thrived on all game long.
“The boys are coming together both on the court and off the court.” Edgerton said. “We are getting back to our defensive principles. Our defense is creating our offense which allows us to have better opportunities and that is what you saw tonight.”
Pittsfield trailed after the first quarter, 13-11 but started to really put an emphasis on getting to the rim early and often in the shot clock. The game continued to be tight both ways until an 11-2 run from Pittsfield to end the half with a 31-28 lead.
“The way we finished that half was huge, it’s all about the composure and our train of momentum, but it all starts from the defensive end.” Edgerton added.
Pittsfield continued that momentum at the start of the third quarter, putting up 27 points in the quarter and breaking the game open to a 15-point lead thanks to a couple timely 3s from Nunu. Agawam didn’t go away and started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to bring things within striking distance.
These two teams squared off just two weeks ago in a tight battle, 67-64 in Agawam’s favor. You could see the extra motivation from the Generals on making sure they closed this one out at home. After back-to-back and-one plays, Pittsfield was able to keep the lead above 10.
Agawam knocked down a few more 3-pointers to make things interesting, but in the end the deficit was too much and Pittsfield walked away with their third straight win.
Pittsfield will look to keep things going against Wahconah, on the road, Friday night.
