Brown Scores 1,000 as Spartans Top Hoosac Valley

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – Monument Mountain senior Manny Brown took care of business early in the second quarter on Monday night.
 
The Spartans took care of business in the fourth.
 
Brown scored in transition with 5 minutes, 32 seconds in the half to go over the 1,000-point mark in his high school career.
 
He went on to score 25 points as Monument Mountain opened up a big lead late to beat Hoosac Valley, 86-50.
 
Brown came into the game needing just 10 points to reach the milestone. And with his brother, former Spartan star Dion Brown, sitting courtside, he scored his team’s first points of the game to cut into an early 10-0 Hurricane lead then scored seven points in a three-minute stretch to end the period.
 
He went to the free throw line with a tenth of a second on the clock needing two shots to reach 1,000. But he missed the first try, ensuring the large crowd would have to wait at least until the second quarter to see the historic moment.
 
Brown did not make them wait much longer.
 
“It feels amazing,” he said after the win. “That’s been the goal this year. I’ve just got to thank all my teammates for finding me when I’m open. Griff [Griffin McElroy], Zay [Isaiah Keefner], Spark [Christian Blanchard], Khalil [Carlson, a 2024 grad], Dom [Calautti] – all assists from them.
 
“I’m thankful, very thankful.”
 
Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys is thankful to add Brown to a recent run of stars at the South County school.
 
“It’s funny, because we have up on that banner, two names,” Koldys said. “One was from 1992, and one was from 2024, and now we have another one going up there. And we would have had Dion [Brown] if COVID didn’t hit [his senior] year. He had 972.”
 
Carlson, the leading scorer in the history of the school, hit 1,000 last winter before doing a post-graduate year at the Darrow School on his way to playing for Williams College next winter.
 
Banners were not really on Koldys’ mind midway through the first quarter, when Trevor Moynihan (18 points) hit a 3-pointer to give the Hurricanes a 13-5 lead.
 
But Monument Mountain scored the next 12.
 
Christian “Sparky” Blanchard had four points in transition during that stretch on his way to a game-high 29 points.
 
“He has been playing so well in practice, ever since Isaiah [Keefner] went down,” Koldys said. “He has taken the bull by the horns and stepped up. And one of the things we want to make sure of is that he continues to do this when Zay gets back. It’s a really cool thing to see him do that.
 
“We had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment about five games ago where we were standing right there, and I said to him, ‘We need more from you.’ He took it to heart.”
 
Blanchard scored 10 points in the second quarter as the Spartans stretched a four-point lead to a 46-34 cushion going into half-time.
 
Hoosac Valley hung around in the third quarter, holding the Spartans to just 17 points to trail by 15 going to the fourth.
 
And the Hurricanes opened the fourth with a successful drive to the basket from Adan Wicks (18 points) to cut the deficit to 13 at 63-50.
 
But Monument Mountain finished the game on a 23-0 run.
 
“One of the things we’ve had trouble with all year is putting teams away,” Koldys said. “It’s been that way since the beginning of the year. And I was really pleased with what we did in the fourth quarter. We came out really hard right there.
 
“Because we had a tough time matching up with those guards, man. A real tough time.”
 
Moynihan and Wicks combined for seven of Hoosac Valley’s nine 3-pointers.
 
In addition to Blanchard and Brown, Monument Mountain saw Calautti finish in double figures with 10 points to go with 17 rebounds and four blocked shots.
 
Brown and McElroy each had seven assists on a night when more than half of the Spartans’ field goals were assisted.
 
“The other night against Baystate, we had 28 assists on 38 hoops,” Koldys said. “One of the things we always try to strive for is to get 67 percent assists to hoops. These guys like each other, and what happens when they like each other is they pass the ball to each other.
 
“And Manny, to his credit, during this whole thing has been getting 5, 6, 7 assists per game. He shares the ball.”
 
Monument Mountain (15-1) , the fourth-ranked Division 4 boys team in the state, hosts Granby on Friday.
 
Hoosac Valley (6-8) is at Granby on Wednesday.
 
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