Taconic Pulls Away Late Against Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Pittsfield High fans came to the Boys and Girls Club Friday night hoping to see a coronation.
But Taconic had the King.
Quincy King and Evan Roccabruna each scored 15 points to lead the Thunder to a 60-47 win as the Taconic boys basketball team denied the Generals a sweep of the season series and a share of the Berkshire County League Championship.
Coupled with Drury’s win at Hoosac Valley, Pittsfield’s loss gave the Blue Devils sole possession of first place on the final night of the league’s double round robin.
King finished with a double-double, grabbing 11 rebounds to go with his 15 points.
“I’m just excited,” King said. “They were going to sweep us. It’s been a lot of years. And we got it going today.”
Taconic put the game away with a 16-5 closing run that started with King’s and-one with 5 minutes, 8 seconds to go to give his team a 47-42 lead.
King set up Kamaris DeWitt in the post and scored another basket of his own in transition before the run ended with a DeWitt basket on a fast break in the closing seconds to provide the final margin.
Taconic (5-12) came into the game in reasonably good shape as far as the Western Mass Class B Tournament is concerned but on the outside looking in when it comes to the Division 3 State Tournament.
With its second win in three outings, the Thunder was happy to play the spoiler.
“I think we’re a little more poised,” Taconic coach Bill Heaphy said of the difference between Taconic’s 57-40 loss to Pittsfield on Jan. 8 and Friday night. “This time around, we’ve gone through some battles and some really tough games, and we’ve learned a lot.
“They felt, since we’ve been playing better – even though the record doesn’t say so – they were pretty confident coming in.”
Still, it was Pittsfield that delivered the first blows in what the city’s school district has marketed as the “War on the Floor.”
Quincy Abellie scored 12 of his 14 points in the first quarter, including a dunk in transition that came in the middle of a 10-2 run that gave the Generals a 15-9 lead.
But Taconic answered with an 8-2 spurt of its own to take a 17-15 lead on a basket by King with just more than a minute left.
Bri’awn Thompson (game-high 18 points) drove to the basket to tie it for the Generals after eight minutes of play.
The next eight minutes belonged to Taconic.
Charlie Driscoll (eight points) hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Kalvin Phillips (10 points) had a putback in a 13-5 period for the Thunder that gave it a 30-22 lead at half-time.
Pittsfield responded by Thompson, who scored 12 points in the third quarter. He got to the line after driving the right wing and made one shot to tie the game, 35-35, with 1:46 left in the quarter.
But Taconic got a jumper from the wing by King and one of Roccabruna’s three 3-pointers to go ahead by five and took a 40-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was still a two-point game with 5:08 left when King got an and-one in transition to put Taconic up by five.
And it was a nine-point margin on baskets from DeWitt and Roccabruna before Pittsfield scored its next basket to make it 51-44.
But that was as close as the Generals got as Taconic shut them down in the final minutes and scored the game’s last six points to open up the biggest lead of the night for either team at the buzzer.
“It’s been what we’ve struggled with,” Heaphy said of Taconic’s ability to close out the game. “We’ve given up, probably, three or four games because we couldn’t do that. So we’ve been working on it.
“I’m really happy for them and proud of them. Maybe we’ve turned the corner a little bit.”
Taconic learns Tuesday who it will face in the quarter-finals of the Class B Tournament, where three of its Berkshire League rivals, including PIttsfield, also will be in the mix.
The Generals (10-6) finish the regular season Monday at Northampton.
Photos from this game to come.