Pittsfield Knocks Off Taconic to Start City Series

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Quincy Abellie scored 16 points, and the Pittsfield boys basketball team led wire-to-wire in earning a 57-40 win over Taconic at the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires on Thursday night.

 

Braiden Sullivan and Bri’awn Thompson each scored 11, and Sam Touray finished with eight points and 10 rebounds for the Generals, who jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first few minutes and never looked back.

 

The win marked the first for Pittsfield in the city rivalry since 2024.

 

“It feels great,” Abellie said. “These last few years, we haven’t really beaten Taconic in this gym. So it feels good to finally come here and get a win.

 

The victory may have helped exorcise some personal demons for the Pittsfield big man, who left the first meeting between the teams last year with an injury as Taconic took a 49-47 win at the Club.

 

“It feels really good,” he said. “Last year I went out with an injury.  And it stunk having to watch a game [on the bench]. It feels so much better to be able to come out here and affect the game and win.”

 

 Wins have been in short supply for the Pittsfield boys at the Melville Street venue.

 

“It’s been a house of horrors for us the last few years,” Pittsfield coach Jerome Edgerton said. “The last time we were in this gym, we lost in Western Mass [to Monument Mountain], and stuff like that sticks to us.

 

“We’re just a hungry program, a hungry team. We want to beat this team, honestly, and anytime we beat them, it’s a good night for us.”

 

Pittsfield stuck it to its city rivals early on.

 

Abellie opened the game with a bucket, and Thompson got a steal and drove the other way for an and-one to make it 5-0. Sullivan then hit a runner in the lane and scored in transition to give the Generals a 9-0 lead.

 

It was 17-4 late in the first quarter before Taconic got a little bit of traction on offense, cutting the margin to single digits in the second quarter on the back of Quincy King, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.

 

The Thunder got as close as five before Noah Smalls (eight points, seven rebounds) hit a triple with 1:35 left in the second quarter to make it 26-18, and Pittsfield led by 10 at half-time.

 

It was a 13-point margin after a Touray putback early in the third made it 36-23.

 

“Sam has been humble all year,” Edgerton said. “He’s been waiting his turn. And Sam and I had a tough conversation. There’s no doubt he could be a starter on this team. He accepted his role, and he just came in ready to go.

 

“He’s a competitor. He’s a dog. I’m just really proud of him. We were down a starter tonight, and he’s our extra starter. Not many teams are blessed to have that, but we are.”

 

Taconic again got a little life in the third, scoring six straight points on buckets by Evan Roccabruna (10 points) to draw within seven at 36-29.

 

But on Pittsfield’s next possession, Smalls set up Sullivan with a kickout pass for a 3-pointer on the right wing, and Taconic never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

 

“Braiden and I were in the gym early yesterday getting shots up,” Edgerton said. “We just want to build his confidence back. And he stepped up in the big moment.”

 

Pittsfield got offense from seven different players in the fourth quarter as it kept Taconic at arm’s length.

 

The Thunder got 28 of its 40 points (70 percent) of its points from the tandem of King and Roccabruna.

 

“One of the things we’ve talked about is consistency and the lack of it,” Taconic coach Bill Heaphy said. “We’ve had … games where we’ve been consistent and we’ve had contributions from everybody. But we haven’t been able to stay consistent, and that’s been an issue.”

 

Taconic (3-5, 2-3 Berkshire County League) will be home on Tuesday for a rematch against Wahconah.

 

Pittsfield (5-2, 4-1) has an independent game on Monday against Belchertown in Moynihan Field House, the first of four games in seven days for the Generals.

 

“I’m just so proud of the team,” Edgerton said. “We had no practice yesterday [due to weather], and you wouldn’t even know that. … I had a goal. Our goal was holding them [Taconic] to 45 or 50. We held them to 40. Let’s go.”

 

Taconic and Pittsfield will meet again at the Boys and Girls Club on Feb. 6.