Defense, Depth Lead Hoosac Valley Past Drury
CHESHIRE, Mass. – In its regular season finale against its top rival, the Hoosac Valley boys basketball team got just nine points from a pair of players with around 2,000 career points between them.
And the Hurricanes won anyway.
Adan Wicks and Qwanell Bradley finished in double figures, and the Hurricanes held Drury to their lowest offensive production of the season in a 51-37 win on Thursday night.
Hakes (17 points) scored seven straight to open the second quarter and give the Hurricanes their first double-digit lead of the night.
Bradley scored 13, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked a couple of shots as Hoosac Valley won its seventh straight to improve to 16-2 heading into next week’s Western Massachusetts Class D Tournament, where it will be seeded first when the bracket is finalized on Friday.
“That’s one of the good things about our team, we’re pretty deep,” said Frank Field, a 1,000-point scorer who was held to four points on Thursday. “Especially adding Kamarion Kastner. We have some depth off the bench.
“We have some depth off the bench. And we have Adan Wicks, Trevor Moynihan, Kamarion and Will Hakes who can all shoot the ball and get points for us. So when me and Joey are off, or when team’s trying to take us away, you can’t do that. Because we have other people who can score.”
Field scored all four of his points at the free throw line and had two points until 3 minutes, 10 seconds remained in the game.
McGovern got off to a quick start with a 3-pointer for Hoosac Valley’s first points of the game and a drive to the basket for 2 later in the first quarter. But he ended up with just those two points.
Not that anyone was complaining after beating Drury for the second straight season. But the lack of production did lead to Hoosac Valley’s second-lowest point total of the season.
“They play hard defensively,” Hoosac Valley coach Bill Robinson said of the Blue Devils. “That’s why they win games.
“Our offense was off because of them. They threw us off on the offense. But I think we did the same to them a little bit.”
One part of the offense that was working for the Hurricanes was its transition game, which cashed in on several of the 22 turnovers Hoosac Valley’s defense created.
A steal by Field led directly to Wicks’ bucket to open the second quarter and start a 9-0 run for the Hurricanes.
Another Drury turnover – this time when Wicks drew a charge – helped a 12-1 run in the third quarter that opened up a 41-22 lead late in the period.
Drury cut into that lead with an 8-2 run that ended when Jorge Bond (team-high 12 points) hit a couple of free throws to make it 43-30. But, by then, just less than four minutes was left on the clock.
Wicks hit a 3-pointer, and Field made a pair of free throws to re-establish the 18-point bulge with 3 minutes, 10 seconds left, and Drury never got closer than 13 in the closing minutes.
“We can’t score right now,” said Drury coach Jack Racette, whose team has been held to 40 or fewer points in three of its last five games. “If you can’t score, you’re not going to win games.
“Holding them to 51, I thought we played well defensively. We just didn’t execute. We turned the ball over for easy baskets, and you can’t do that come tournament time, because everybody can make layups.”
Donte Dillard, Sam Moorman and Myles Beauchamp each scored eight points for Drury. Moorman finished with 12 rebounds; Dillard had nine boards.
Drury (12-6) in Class C and Hoosac Valley (16-2) in Class D each started Thursday as the No. 1 seed in its respective Western Mass tournament bracket. The PVIAC will finalize those eight-team tournaments on Friday with the quarter-final games on Monday.