NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury boys basketball team ran away with its home opener, 70-37, over Lee thanks to 26 points from Scott McGuire on Monday night.
It was a fast start for the Drury Blue Devils (2-0) as they relied on early full court pressure to build an 11-2 lead. Drury was able to score easy basket after easy basket due to the pressure, and it seemed like Lee (0-1) would not catch up. After a bit of sloppy play by both sides, Lee was able to crawl back into the game. The Wildcats went down, 21-10, at the end of the first quarter and were able to bring itself within eight points mid way through the second quarter.
The game never felt like Lee had a chance to come all the way back but for most of the first half they were able to stay within striking distance. Lee was led by Evan Heath with 11 points and Gabe Kelley with nine.
Drury, a fairly young squad outside of the star power of McGuire, was always going to take time to get things going this year, but with a wide range of players who are capable of stepping in coach Jack Racette is ready for the task.
“Our young guys need game experience,” he said. “We need Brazeau, Moulton, and Guilotte, and even Keegan [Vidal] who -- it’s a new style for him to get them up to speed. We have 18 more games to do it, but we aren’t going to change our style.”
Vidal transferred up the hill from McCann Tech this year.
In the second half, Drury came out blazing once again, but this time it held the lead and continued to just pour it in. The Blue Devils started the half on an 18-0 run, holding Lee to just three points in the whole quarter. Once again it was that non-stop pressure and fast place play they have relied on in the past. McGuire had 12 of his 26 in the quarter alone. Both Vidal and Hunter Sarkis added 11 each.
At this point in the game it was time for Racette to call on those younger players and actually get them some game minutes with the score more than safe. The Blue Devils had 10 players in total on the score sheet and they had more than a full quarter to work on things.
“The nice thing about these types of games, we know Scott and Hunter can handle the pressure because they’ve been in these games, but we are going to have some other guys in games to see how they handle the pressure,” Racette added.
Friday will be a much different atmosphere for Drury as it plays its first true road game against a very good Monument Mountain team. Lee will take on Hoosac Valley at home Wednesday night.
