WESTHAMPTON - Brendan Rios wasn't the only player making big shots Wednesday night.

Matt Gilbert and Dylan Sudnick came through with key baskets down the stretch as the Easthampton boys basketball team came from behind to beat Hampshire Regional 53-51.

"We were looking forward to this game since the beginning of the year," Rios said. "It was great to get this win."

Nearly 700 fans packed the gym for the rare, late-season nonconference game between two of the finest teams in Division 2. Easthampton, which trailed by as many as 13 points, is 15-2 while Hampshire is 14-2.

"That's our MO to get down early but we know we can come back," Easthampton coach Brian Miller said. "They believe that they can come back."

The Red Raiders held the ball for the final shot with less than 30 seconds left and the game tied 51-51.

With the ball on the wing, the Easthampton defense swarmed. Casey White stole the ball from behind and quickly found Sudnick streaking past half court and the junior made a breakaway layup with 3.2 seconds left.

"I was so nervous but I finished strong," Sudnick said. "It was good."

"It's frustrating because we work on ball screens and we work on every play in practice and to not get a shot off is frustrating," Hampshire point guard Alex Brunelle said. "They played good defense."

Branden Labrie's half-court shot for Hampshire at the buzzer hit the front rim.

"We spread the ball out and tried to get Alex on a one-on-one but things broke down a bit," Hampshire coach Claud Salomao said. "I like the element of using the clock and taking the last shot - I just didn't expect a turnover."

Labrie (18 points) made two free throws with 1:42 left to give Hampshire a 49-47 lead. But Gilbert answered with a jumper to tie the game on Easthampton's next possession.

Following a time-out, Labrie made two more free throws for a two-point Hampshire lead but Easthampton came back as Rios found Sudnick at the free throw line for a jumper with 31 seconds left.

"It was great to see them" make big shots, Rios said. "I trust them and they were hitting the shots. It was good for them to step up."

Hampshire turned the ball over on four of its first five possessions to start the fourth as the Eagles mounted their comeback.

Easthampton opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run, capped by an impressive play by Gilbert to lead 44-43 with 3:53 left. Gilbert took an off-balance jumper but missed. He grabbed his own rebound and made the put-back.

Hampshire freshman Adam Laroche made a jumper on the other end, and Labrie followed with another as the Red Raiders took a 47-44 lead.

With two minutes left, Rios drained a big 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game.

"We wanted to get the ball out of his hands and make the other guys make shots," Salomao said. "Defensively we had a great game plan. Offensively we didn't execute as well as we probably should have."

Hampshire jumped all over the Eagles at the start and led 17-9 at the end of the first and 31-23 at halftime. Brunelle scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half while Labrie had 10 of his 18.

"We came out hard in the first and slowly we started going down," Brunelle said. "That's a part of leadership and I take responsibility and I know my two other captains (Dan Morse, Labrie) do. We'll come back hard and we'll practice hard tomorrow."

Labrie struggled from the floor and was scoreless for over 15 minutes from midway through the second into the fourth as the Eagles slowly recovered.

"We had to pick it up after the first half," Rios said. "There was no way we were going to take a beating like we did in the first half."

Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com.