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CHESHIRE, Mass. — Monument Mountain’s second half push sent the Spartans past Hoosac Valley, 48-32, in boys basketball action on Wednesday night.
Both teams showed early season jitters as they struggled to find any rhythm in the game.
Monument was led by Noel Powell with 12 points, While Dion Brown added nine. Caleb Carlson and Ty Higgins had eight each.
For Hoosac Valley Sam Larabee had nine and Izaya Stubbs had seven.
Hoosac Valley (1-1) found trouble with Monument’s full court pressure and was unable to slow the game down to get anything going on the offensive end.
As for Monument Mountain (2-0), had its difficulties putting the ball in the hoop. The Spartans were the better of both sides early on but couldn’t seem to get the ball to go in. Their struggles around the hoop left them with a low scoring 8-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. The game was mainly dictated by foul trouble on both sides. Monument was impacted a little bit more than Hoosac with starting guard Dion Brown picking up three fouls early in the second quarter. Hoosac took advantage of this, ending the half on a 6-0 run. Five of those points came from Sam Larabee, who helped Hoosac take a 20-14 lead.
The half-time break was just what Monument needed to settle down and regroup with early foul trouble. They came out of the break on a 10-2 run and really started to get shots to fall around the basket. It was clear the game plan was to go inside.
“I just told them to relax and let the game come to them.” Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys said. “First county game against Hoosac, who is always a big rival, we were trying to force thing and move to quickly, Once we slowed down, we started playing good basketball.”
Monument continued to control most of the game in the second half thanks to an overall team effort. With contributions in the scoring department from multiple players, Ryan Shultis added some big rebounds and points late in the game.
”Ryan Shultis and Caleb Carlson were two huge players for us today." Koldys said. “They had some huge minutes for us tonight and i was happy our bench was able to have some production. This will bode well for us to go nine deep.”
This bench production proved to be too much for Hoosac as Monument essentially ended the game with a 16-0 run when the game was tied to give them a 44-28 lead early in the fourth quarter. The run was sparked by a big 3 from Dion Brown, and the rest was history. Monument ran the clock out late in the game giving it a well deserved win on the road.
“Very tough night shooting, going 9-for-63 from the floor and 3-for-28 from 3,” Hoosac Valley coach David Harte said. “We played solid team defense for two and a half quarters and then got beat bad on the boards. We lack depth at the forward position and it showed tonight.
“Offensively, we need to reverse the basketball and enter it in the post. We’ll get better.”
Hoosac Valley hosts Renaissance on Friday.
Monument Mountain hosts Westfield on Friday.
