NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- It had been 356 days since any team wearing a Drury High School uniform competed in an athletic event.
That squad could be forgiven if it took a little time to shake off the rust.
But once the Drury boys basketball team got rolling, they outscored visiting Mount Greylock, 43-18, over the final 11 minutes en route to a 70-51 win.
Louis Guillotte scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Ben Moulton scored 15, including three fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
Those 3s helped the Blue Devils score 31 points in the fourth quarter, nearly half their offensive output for the rest of the game.
"We definitely weren't on our top game, but we definitely found a rhythm more and got some rebounds -- a lot of stuff," Guillotte said of Drury's second half.
"We played better as a team in the second half. We started to get on the rebounds. We started to work together as a team more. That's really it."
Drury also started taking care of the basketball.
"We were laughing about it, but we turned the ball over more in the first half than we did all last year," Drury coach Jack Racette said of the Blue Devils' run to a second straight Western Massachusetts Division 4 title. "We thrived on not turning the ball over. You've gotta get possessions. You've gotta get shots.
"But they settled in. Again, they haven't played a lot. ... We've had seven days to get ready, and you can't do a lot in seven days. You're wearing a mask in practice. These kids couldn't get to gyms to play. It's not like you could say, 'Go work on your game.' There's nowhere to work on it, unless you've got a gym in your cellar, which I don't think too many people have."
Mount Greylock was part of the first wave of five Berkshire County teams -- along with Hoosac Valley, Monument Mountain, Mount Everett and Wahconah -- who started playing games at the beginning of Februrary.
Lee joined the action last week. Drury's boys opened their long-delayed season on Monday, and its girls are scheduled to host Mount Greylock on Tuesday night in the season opener for those Blue Devils.
Mount Greylock's boys entered last night 0-11 but also in a rhythm. It showed as the Mounties took a 19-12 lead early in the second quarter when Max McAlister (13 points) stole the ball near midcourt and went the other way to make it 19-12.
It was a two-point Mount Greylock lead at half-time, and the Mounties led by as many as seven in the second half when McAlister knocked down a free throw after being fouled in transition to make it 33-26.
But Drury closed the third quarter on a 13-1 run to take the lead for good.
Five different Blue Devils scored during the run. Guillotte had a putback and a conventional three-point play during that stretch.
He started the third quarter with another score in the post to make it 41-34. And after McAlister hit a 3 to get the Mounties within four, Drury scored the next nine.
Tim Brazeau (eight points) got things going with a bucket in the post. Zack Davignon ended the run with a bucket in transition to make it 50-37.
The back-breaker came with three minutes left.
After Chase Doyle scored on back-to-back trips to give Mount Greylock some hope, down 57-45, Drury used another 10-0 spurt with 3s from Moulton and Jeff Adams to put the game away.
"I thought responded pretty well in the second half, once we settled in and stopped turning the ball over," Racette said. "We made a few little adjustments.
"One of the biggest things you do as a coach, as the year goes on, is you make those little adjustments. Who is going to be your point guard? Who is going to be the guy you're going to down the stretch. Everyone wants their shot right now. Everyone thinks they can be that guy. That's our job, to figure out where we can get the guys the ball."
Drury plays its first road game of the year on Wednesday when it visits Wahconah while Mount Greylock goes to Mount Everett.
