NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Coming into Wednesday night, Scott McGuire Jr. needed 20 points to break the all-time scoring record in Drury history.
By the end of the night he was not only the all-time scoring leader, but also the leading scorer for a game with 52 points, a record that was previously 43.
It was a perfect night for McGuire to eclipse these records as Drury (6-5) needed every single point to earn a 90-87 win over Monument Mountain.
You could tell it was McGuire’s night right away when he scored 21 of the first 25 points by the Blue Devils. The team fed off of this performance and started the game on a 17-3 run. Drury finished the quarter up 22-12.
“I wasn’t really thinking about the record.” McGuire said. "My teammates were getting me the ball and I was hitting my shots. My team just kept feeding me the ball and it gave us a push.”
The second half was more of the same as Monument had trouble containing Scott. He was doing it both inside and outside forcing Monument into different match-ups to try and stop the hot hand. Drury extended its lead to 14 and were looking comfortable.
After the break Monument reset and started to chip away at the double-digit lead. The Spartans were
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more patient on offense and picked it up defensively forcing Drury into some tough shots. Dion Brown started to heat up in the second half scoring 23 of his 32 points in the second half. Monument was able to cut the lead to just six putting the pressure back on Drury.
With the fourth quarter looming neither team showed any signs of slowing up, as they both battled back and forth. It wasn’t until the 5-minute mark that Monument completed the comeback leveling the score at 70 a piece with an and-one bucket from Brown, who finished the game with 32 points.
A couple plays later Drury seniors Keeghan Vidal and Hunter Sarkis stepped up with a few plays of their own. The first coming with an and-one by Vidal followed by another and-one by Sarkis pushing the lead up to 79-72. These two would link up later in the quarter with a nice back door play that gave them an 83-78 lead with just two minutes to go.
“Brown was really denying Scotty, so we got a couple back doors for Keeghan and Hunter, They are both seniors and they need to start playing like seniors. Our backs are against the wall and we need to win at home,” Drury coach Jack Racette said.
Drury would then get a defensive stop and rebound from McGuire and he iced the game with two free throws at the end, a fitting result for a record breaking night.
“Scott knew how important this game was,” Racette said. “We are .500 and battling for tourney time. It was just a great effort from him. Breaking both records it doesn’t come any better than that, but if you ask him, he will say the win is more important than the points, he was just a great athlete tonight.”
Drury picks up back to back wins after a tough loss at home to Wahconah. They now sit a game above .500 and will host longtime rivals Hoosac Valley, Friday night.
Monument Mountain will look to shake this one off and host Southern Division rivals Lenox, Tuesday night.
