Blue Devils hand Spartans first loss
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The Northampton boys basketball team needed a confidence boost and they certainly got one Monday.
The Blue Devils snapped a string of three lackluster performances with a 60-52 Suburban League victory over previously undefeated East Longmeadow in Northampton.
"It's a good win because the last three games we haven't played well," Blue Devils coach Rey Harp said. "We were desperate to have a game to prove to everyone and ourselves that we're ready to play in the big games."
This was the final regular-season meeting between the two Division 1 contenders. The Spartans (14-1, 4-1) defeated Northampton (13-4, 3-2) 71-65 on Jan. 15 in the Spalding HoopHall Classic at Springfield College.
"We're very familiar with them," Harp said. "The coaches are good friends. The players are good friends. Both locker rooms are aware that there is potentially another game left" in the western Massachusetts tournament.
The Blue Devils showed off their depth Monday as Jesse Coulon (three points) and Ellis Cooper (eight points) - who combined average 33 points per game - were held in check.
Pat Harrington (seven rebounds, five assists) had a career-high 14 points, including 12 in the second half for Northampton. Harrington had been scoreless in his previous three games.
With two minutes left in the fourth, East Longmeadow hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one, but Harrington made a 3 on the other end to push the lead back to four.
Jake Konowitch added a career-high 11 points, all in the first half, for the Blue Devils, and Jarrod Neumann (nine rebounds) had 14 points, including 12 in the first half.
Jake Laga chipped in with 10 for Northampton.
Laga defended Spartan guard Ryan Mickiewicz and held him to six points. Cooper defended senior forward Dan Martin and held him to 12.
Amherst Regional 71, Westfield 64 - Charles White made five of the Hurricanes' 12 3-pointers en route to a career-high 25 points as Amherst (6-8, 2-2 Suburban) kept its postseason hopes alive with the win on the road.
Sean Cunningham added 17 points for the Hurricanes, who trailed by one at halftime before taking control in the second half.
Hopkins Academy 59, Athol 36 - The Golden Hawks (7-8, 6-7 Hampshire West) hit 10 3-pointers as they earned a big win in Hadley.
Hopkins needs three wins in its final five games to qualify for the postseason.
Dan Sullivan (12 points) hit four 3s and Scott Fournier (nine points) had three 3s to pace the Hawks, who have won two straight for their first winning streak of the new year.
Denzel Coleman had a career-high 12 points for Hopkins, which outrebounded the Red Raiders (4-12, 3-11 Hampshire East) by 15.
Hampshire Regional 69, Granby 48 - The Rams will not be sorry to see Branden Labrie graduate. The Red Raider senior, who had 40 against Granby on Jan. 12, nearly matched that total with 38 on Monday.
Hampshire (14-1, 5-0 Bi-County West) turned a close game into a rout as they outscored the Rams 21-2 in the third quarter.
Alex Brunelle added 15 points and seven assists for Hampshire.
Keith Cotnoir did not score for the Raiders, but he had eight rebounds and seven assists and held Clinton Sapowsky of Granby to four points.
Jason Labrie and Andy Gifford each had 13 points for Granby (6-9, 1-4 Bi-County North).
Easthampton 54, Greenfield 29 - The Eagles turned a four-point first-quarter edge into a 15-point halftime lead and rolled to a big win at home.
Brendan Rios led Easthampton (14-2, 13-1 Hampshire East) with 17 points and six steals.
Smith Academy 88, Turners Falls 75 - The Falcons kept the postseason in their sights as they took a big lead early and held on against the Indians.
At 6-9 overall (6-8 Hampshire West), Smith needs to win four out of its five remaining games to reach the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament.
Joey O'Connell led the Falcons with 19 points and eight rebounds. Corey Mortimer (17 points) and Chris Sulda (16) joined him in the eight-board club, while Mat Sulda had 13 points and Anthony Afflitto scored 10 for Smith.
Belchertown 77, Gateway Regional 52 - Pat Gooden scored 22 points to lead four players in double figures as the Orioles (11-5) cruised to their sixth straight win at home.
Dan Johnson scored 18 points, Nate Conner had 12 and Chris Ladd added 11 for Belchertown, which led 24-16 after the first quarter.
Gabe Craig had 17 points for the Gators (6-9), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
Mahar Regional 69, Frontier Regional 21 - Matt Chamberlin (five points) was the only player with more than one basket for the Red Hawks (8-6, 8-5 Hampshire West) who had a difficult night all around in Orange.
"It was not our prettiest performance on either end," said Frontier coach Marty Sanderson. "It was a poor shooting night as well as a poor defensive night."
Holyoke Catholic 65, Monson 54 - Nate Powers had 22 points and Nick Bryda added 21 as the Gaels (10-5, 5-0 Bi-County South) snapped a four-game losing streak and qualified for the postseason with the victory in Chicopee.
Powers had 14 rebounds while Bryda (10 rebounds) went 13-for-13 for the free throw line. Holyoke Catholic shot 20-for-24 from the line.
Joey Kurpaska chipped in with 14 points for the Gaels, who have a two-game lead on the second-place Mustangs (6-11, 4-2).
