NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury boys basketball team Monday cruised past Pioneer Valley Christian Academy with a 86-34 win, in their first round matchup of the Western Massachusetts Division 4 tournament.
This one started just as everyone thought, with a dominating performance by Drury scoring the first 10 points of the game to force PVCA into an early timeout.
Scott McGuire led the way with 32 points, and 26 of those came in the first half. Reece Racette added 12 and Obilio Rodriguez had nine. It was a pretty straight forward game for the Blue Devils who never looked to be in trouble throughout the game. The staple of their game came through, again with high pressure and easy points off turnovers.
They were able to establish the game early and widen the gap before PVCA had a chance to get anything going. Drury finished the half up 56-20.
One big advantage to a scoreline like this is the work Drury was able to get from its bench. For the younger players it was a good experience to get their feet wet in a Western Mass game and be able to impose themselves on the game. Drury was able to get all 14 players into the game for some action and that will go a long way as the tournament progresses as well as for future years to come.
“We’ve always had byes, so we got a good run in today,” Drury coach Jack Racette said. “We knew we had to play fast and pressure and instead of beating each other up in practice we got to see another team. It’s great for our young guys and good for the program to get kids involved."
Although Drury has been in this position before as far as being the favorite, Racette talked about how this was new territory not having a bye to begin the tournament.
“It’s nice to be home, hopefully we can be rested and be ready to take care of business on Thursday,” he said. “The games will only get harder. The first one was easier and they will get harder as they go.”
With the field being 16 deep the games certainly will only get tougher and tougher. The Blue Devils’ next opponent will be an in city matchup against McCann Tech.
McCann upset Granby, 52-45, in their first round matchup and will look to play spoilers against Drury on Thursday. Although these two teams are in the same town it has been some time since they have played each other, let alone a tournament game.
