NORTH ADAMS, Mass. --The McCann Tech boys basketball team Thursday put Smith Voc on the mat in the first quarter and delivered the knockout blow in the third to hand the Vikings a 79-55 loss in the Hornets Nest.
The Hornets (8-1) stormed out to a 21-8 in the first quarter as the forced 13 Smith Voc turnovers.
But after the Vikings battled back to pull within seven points at halftime, McCann opened the second half on a 15-2 run and never looked back.
“It’s hard to keep the momentum up, keep the intensity up,” McCann coach Chris Bullett said of a second quarter in which his team was outscored, 18-12. “But I was happy with the way we came out at half-time. We weren’t good in the second quarter, obviously. But after half-time we came right out and did what we had to do.”
That included pressure defense that frustrated the Vikings most of the night and yielded multiple steals from guards Jake Tower and Billy Galipeau.
Most of those turnovers turned into quick points, as when Tower had back-to-back steals and lay-ins in a late first quarter sequence that pushed the lead to 21-4.
He finished with a game-high 17 points and four assists. Ethan Sheldon scored 16, and Galipeau and Logan Tower each scored 11. Steven LeMire grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
“Billy and Jake are my captains,” Bullett said. “They play well for us pretty much every game. I haven’t seen either one have a bad game yet. We rely on them, heavily.
“Those two, Ethan and Logan are pretty much our core scorers. So we’re going to need those guys every game. … Billy and Jake are both seniors. This is their last shot, so they’re going to lead by example and show everybody what it takes to win.”
Sheldon started the knockout run with a basket in transition, and Jake Tower followed it up with another steal out of the press and lay-in to push the lead back to double digits at 37-26.
Logan Tower hit a pair of buckets, and the Hornets went 5-for-6 at the line during the run, which ended with Lukas Zelazo hitting a pair of free throws after getting fouled in the post. His foul shots made it 48-28 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left in the third.
A 9-0 spurt to open the fourth quarter pushed the lead all the way to 28, 70-42, before the benches started to empty. Galipeau capped that run with a triple.
Since losing a game to Berkshire County South power Mount Greylock back on Dec. 16, the Hornets have won six in a row heading into Monday’s game at South foe Lenox, a team McCann beat in the Hornets Nest back on Dec. 12.
After watching his team score the second most points it has gotten in a game this season, Bullett did not have many complaints about how things are going in his first year at the Hornets’ helm.
“We’re super happy with where we are right now, but it’s not where we want to be at the end,” he said. “So we’re going to keep working hard every day to try to get better day by day.”
