Drury bedevils Red Raiders
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WESTHAMPTON - With 17 seconds left in Sunday's game, Hampshire Regional coach Claud Salomao asked Alex Brunelle if he wanted to be taken out.
Traditionally, when the outcome is decided seniors are pulled from the game, allowing spectators to cheer them one last time.
But Brunelle shook his head. He wanted to stay on the floor. Fellow senior captain Dan Morse was left out there as well.
Not joining them was senior captain and 1,000-point scorer Branden Labrie, who fouled out with about a minute left.
"I wanted to end my career on the court where it all started," Brunelle said. "I wanted to stay out and feel what it was like to play Red Raider basketball one more time."
Brunelle refused to quit and scored five points in the final 10 seconds. But that was not enough as Drury won 57-48 to advance to the Western Massachusetts Division 2 Tournament semifinal round.
"They wanted to play until the final whistle," Salomao said. "We never quit because you never know what will happen. It's frustrating the season's over. All the hard work is over in one game."
Fifth-seeded Drury (16-5) will face No. 1 Sabis (20-2) at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in the second of two semifinal games at the Curry Hicks Cage at the University of Massachusetts. Second-seeded Hoosac Valley (18-3) plays No. 3 Mahar (18-3) at 6 p.m.
The Blue Devils played outstanding defense against Hampshire in the quarterfinal game.
"We knew what we had to do coming in and that was stop Labrie," Drury coach Jack Racette said. Nik "Andrews did a nice job and we had a nice team effort."
Fourth-seeded Hampshire, which will receive the Division 2 sportsmanship award, finished 17-4. The Red Raiders were held to a season-low 48 points, 18 below their season average.
Labrie, the leading scorer in western Massachusetts, was held to 16 points - nine below his season average. And it was the first time all season that Labrie fouled out.
"The rest of the team had to step up," Morse said. "It was difficult when he sat out because he's our leading scorer."
With six minutes, 54 seconds left in the second Labrie picked up his third foul reaching in as Anthony Sims drove the lane. The senior guard stayed in the game another minute but left with six minutes remaining and a 17-12 Hampshire lead.
Then Drury took over.
"We came in with a game plan to attack (Labrie) a little bit, take away the jump shot and make him penetrate," Racette said. "The guys did a good job of that and once he left the game we knew."
The Blue Devils closed the second with a 16-2 run to take a 28-19 lead at half time. The 19 points were a season-low for the first half for Hampshire.
"You want to be up at halftime to keep the pressure on them playing on the road," Salomao said. "They were able to relax in the second half because they had that lead."
The Red Raiders never got anything going in the second half. Labrie picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the third quarter. Drury, which held a 36-22 scoring edge in the paint, controlled the rebounds on both ends and led 43-26 entering the fourth.
"We've never really been down that much this season," Brunelle said. "I knew we weren't going to quit. I knew we'd try to come back but their pressure and defense ... We couldn't get that one run to get back in the game."
The deficit grew to 49-31 with less than five minutes remaining when Hampshire went on an 8-2 run.
Labrie scored four straight points, and then his cousin Jon Labrie added four points inside. But Drury held Hampshire scoreless for over two minutes to seal the win.
"They're very athletic and play hard on defense," Brunelle said. "It was hard for us to get good looks and get second-chance rebounds. They deserved to go to the next level."
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. For more coverage, including a high school sports blog, go to www.gazettenet.com/hs-sports.
