South Hadley Advances Past Spartans in OT

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – Noah Hambley scored 36 points Thursday to lead the South Hadley boys basketball team to a 68-67 overtime win over Monument Mountain in the quarter-finals of the Western Massachusetts Class B Tournament.

 

Hambley scored eight points and went 6-for-6 at the free throw line in overtime, when the Tigers outscored Monument Mountain, 11-10.

 

The victory sent fifth-seeded South Hadley into the regional semi-finals against Sci-Tech and avenged a 66-63 Spartan win that started a six-game winning streak for Monument Mountain early last month.

 

“He was a little bit off that night – much to our pleasure,” Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys said of Hambley’s performance in the first meeting. “Tonight, he just shows a lot of guts. He’s a tough player. He just goes out and makes the plays he has to.

 

“And I don’t think he missed very much tonight. If he missed three or four shots the whole night, that would be a lot.”

 

Hambley gave the Tigers what passed for a big lead in Thursday’s game when he hit the first of his six 3-pointers and then scored in transition for a 5-0 spurt that gave South Hadley a 16-10 lead after one quarter.

 

South Hadley again led by six – briefly – early in the third quarter, but Finn Wheeler (team-high 24 points) got a steal at one end and a lay-up at the other, and Dom Calautti (17 points, 17 rebounds, two blocked shots)  scored in the post to quickly make it a one-possession game at 41-39.

 

Monument Mountain used an 8-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters to open its biggest lead at 48-43. Finn Mason (14 points) scored a pair of buckets to start that run, which ended with a Calautti basket in the post.

 

South Hadley called timeout, and responded with a run of its own, taking a 53-50 lead on a Hambley triple midway through the fourth.

 

But the Spartans hung in there, eventually getting a drive from the right wing by Wheeler with 3 seconds left to tie the game, 57-57.

 

After a timeout, South Hadley got the ball into the front court, but its runner at the buzzer rimmed out, and the teams went to overtime.

 

It was 62-62 midway through the extra session when the Tigers’ Isaiah James scored in the post with 1:49 on the clock.

 

The teams then traded empty possessions before Tim Loughery’s defensive rebound gave South Hadley the ball with 32 seconds remaining.

 

Forced to foul with time running out, Monument Mountain put Hambley on the line, and he gave his team a 66-62 lead.

 

A putback by Calautti at the other end made it 66-64 with 18 seconds left, but again Hambley got to the line, converting both his shots, to make it 68-64 with 15.6 seconds left.

 

Monument Mountain’s next possession yielded a miss, but the Spartans caught a break when the ball went out of bounds off the Tigers with 5.2 seconds on the clock. Monument Mountain got Wheeler a 3-pointer, and he made the shot, but just .3 seconds remained.

 

South Hadley inbounded the ball after a timeout, and the clock expired.

 

“A game like this can help us big time,” said Koldys, who will be getting the Spartans (10-9) ready for the Division 4 State Tournament after they play a consolation game. “I know we’re going to Wahconah on Monday, and we’re kind of in the same boat. … One of us is going to have to right the ship.

 

“I think we can do that. I was really pleased with our effort, and I was pleased with how hard we played. We just didn’t make enough shots. … And we didn’t stop enough shots, too.”

 

Photos from this game to come.