GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – The Monument Mountain boys basketball team Friday weathered a 13-2 run at the end of the first quarter.
But the Burke Bulldogs delivered a knockout blow at the end of the second.
Sixth-seeded Burke (19-4) used a 12-0 run to end the first half that opened a 17-point lead en route to a 90-60 win over the Spartans in the quarter-finals of the Division 4 State Tournament.
Jaeden Roberts scored 26 points, and Jaeshawn Rogers added 17 as the Boston squad advanced to face No. 2 Bourne (22-1), a 71-46 winner over David Prouty on Friday night.
The Bulldogs not only put up the most points allowed by Monument Mountain (22-2) this winter (the previous high was 65 by Pittsfield in the Spartans’ other loss), Burke held the Spartans to its second-lowest total of the season.
“You know, the video didn’t do justice to how intense they are and how they get up in your face and play great ‘D,’ “ Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys said of Burke. “They did a great job as far as taking us out of our game, completely, like no one’s done all year.
“That’s a good team over there. Give them all the credit in the world. They made the three-hour trip up here and came ready to play.”
Monument Mountain started out strong in the first quarter, going ahead, 14-9, when Carlson (16 points) set up Manny Brown (nine points) in transition with about three minutes left in the period.
But Burke got five points from Roberts in a 13-2 run interrupted only by a Carlson bucket in the post midway through and led by six points going to the second quarter.
The Spartans went toe-to-toe with them most of that quarter.
Sebastian Guete-Ramirez (nine points) hit a pair of free throws with 2 minutes, 51 seconds left in the half to make it a five-point game at 34-29.
Burke then opened the lead up to 17 points in a stretch that saw Roberts and Rogert each knock down a 3-pointer.
It was a 21-point margin midway through the third, but Burke dashed any hope for a comeback with a 12-3 spurt, the last points coming from Malik Adamson (14 points) in transition to give his team its first 70-point margin at 70-40.
“Those are huge,” Koldys said of the runs by Burke. “That’s usually what we do to other people. It definitely was something that hurt because the momentum just swings so much.
“It’s hard to stop that stuff, too, because they were just so comfortable. The one thing we wanted to do tonight was not make them comfortable. And we didn’t do a very good job of that, for sure.”
Griffin McElroy scored 16 points for Monument Mountain despite dealing with foul trouble. Isaiah Keefner scored six points and passed out five assists.
Carlson, the Spartans’ lone senior, ended his stellar career with a double-double, grabbing 13 rebounds to go with his 16 points.
The closing minutes of a difficult night for the Spartans did include a special moment, when Carlson subbed out of his final game to a standing ovation from the home fans.
“I told him, ‘Thank you for being the face of the program for four years,’ “ Koldys said. “He’s a dynamite kid. As good a basketball player as he is, he’s a better kid.
“I told him I loved him and wished him all the luck in the world.”
