TURNERS FALLS, Mass. – Most teams have to shake off some rust on opening night.

 

For the Mount Everett boys basketball team, after a year lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rust was a little thicker than usual.

 

But Mount Everett Thursday saved its best for last, scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter to earn a 54-45 win over Franklin Tech in the opening round of the Eagles Holiday Classic.  

 

Justin Foster scored 16 points, and Michael Ullrich had 12 points and nine rebounds. Mount Everett closed the game on a 12-4 run, holding the hosts without a field goal over the final five minutes of play.

 

“I’m going to chalk most of this game up to basically almost having a year off last year, not real basketball,” Mount Everett coach Jowe Warren said. “We definitely had to dust some cobwebs off.

 

“But I liked the way we finished at the end, finishing the game off and not letting it get out of control, because it got to a one- or two-possession game at one point. But we kept on battling and maintaining the lead and built on it a little at the end.”

 

Mount Everett scored just seven points in the first quarter and trailed until it mounted an 11-0 run to start the second.

 

Jordi Peck got things started with a bucket in transition, and Foster ended the run with a pair of baskets to make it 18-9.

 

Mount Everett maintained at least a two-possession lead throughout the rest of the second and most of the third quarter.

 

But Franklin Tech’s Noah Ausikatis and Ty Sadoski hit 3s late in the third to pull their team to within three at 35-32.

 

It was a one-score game again when Ausikatis hit a 3 midway through the fourth to make it 42-39.

 

But that was the hosts’ final field goal. Meanwhile, Mount Everett got a putback from Jordi Peck (eight points) to make it a two-score game at 45-41, and Ullrich and Ben Monteleone (eight points) combined to go 5-for-6 at the line in the final 3 minutes, 54 seconds.

 

Ullrich scored five of Mount Everett’s final nine points as the sophomore got his season off to a strong start.

 

“If we can move the ball and look for our bigs down low and then keep the inside/outside game going, hopefully we can get some easy shots,” Warren said. “It just took a little while to get there. 

 

“[Ullrich] is growing as a sophomore. He’s still learning. His ceiling is very high. If he keeps working hard, both sides of the ball, offense and defense, he can be a huge part of our team this year.”

 

Mount Everett (0-1) faces Ware, a winner over McCann Tech on Thursday, in the tournament’s championship game.