WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Greylock boys basketball team Thursday used a 16-2 run in the third quarter to open a 16-point lead en route to a 71-51 win over Lenox.
Chase Doyle scored 24 points, and Jackson Shelsy hit two 3-pointers in the middle of the decisive run as the Mounties won their fourth straight.
“Those 3s were huge,” Doyle said. “We wouldn’t have had that huge run without them, I feel like.”
Shelsy scored eight of his 10 points in that third quarter as three Mounties finished in double figures. Seamus Barnes scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Max McAlister scored nine points – all at the free throw line.
The Millionaires also had three players in double figures. Brendan Armstrong led the way with 14 points, and Michael Butler and Max Shepardson added 10 apiece.
Shepardson started the third quarter with a triple to trim a five-point half-time deficit down to 30-28. And it looked like the game was going to continue to be a back-and-forth affair.
The first half saw five lead changes with Lenox taking its last lead on an Armstrong drive to give his team a 21-20 lead late in the second quarter.
But after Shepardson connected from behind the 3-point line to start the third, Mount Greylock scored the next 10.
Adam Sandifer put back an offensive rebound, Shelsy hit a 3, Doyle pulled up at the foul line, and Shelsy scored again from downtown to make it 40-28, forcing a Lenox timeout.
Shepardson tipped in a rebound to cut the margin to 10. But Mount Greylock scored six more,p getting buckets from Barnes, Judge Martin and Shelsy to go ahead, 46-30.
Nine different Mounties made a mark in the scorebook.
“We have a deep bench,” Mount Greylock coach Bob Thistle said. “Adam [Sandifer] started tonight. Judge [Martin] has started other games. Seamus [Barnes] has been a great scorer for us. We like our seven, eight guys.
“I’m really proud of the kids, everybody. Everybody made contributions tonight.”
After Lenox’s second timeout of the quarter, the Millionaires scored six straight before Barnes scored in the post to keep it a double-digit margin, 48-36, going to the fourth.
Lenox never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
An eight-point spurt midway through the fourth gave Mount Greylock a 20-point lead when Desmond Cobb knocked down both ends of a one-and-one to make it 62-42.
Shortly after, there was an ugly incident that resulted in three technical fouls against the teams on one sequence.
“It was a chippy game,” Thistle said. “That’s something that all high school kids and learn to try to keep their composure a little better. It was on both sides, but a big crowd, good high school environment. And we played well tonight. We just talked about how there are things to work on, but we’re getting better.”
The offense is starting to come around for the Mounties.
After breaking 60 just once in a 2-4 start, Mount Greylock has scored 69, 66 and 71 in its last three games.
“We haven’t been shooting the ball all that well, but we’re working hard on that in practice,” Thistle said. “We took a couple of tough losses early in December – Drury in overtime, Hoosac down the stretch. And you hope that the kids will learn from those experiences, being in a big crowd.
“We beat Athol on the road. We were down one with three [minutes] to go and beat them by 16. So we’re trying to find our identity here later in the games.”
Mount Greylock (6-4) hosts Paulo Freire on Monday.
Lenox (3-5) hosts Mount Everett on Tuesday.
