NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – They were turning people away at the door outside the McCann Tech gym on Saturday night.
Inside, the Hornets were keeping Ludlow away from the basket.
McCann Tech’s boys jumped out to a 27-2 lead late in the second quarter and cruised a 43-27 win over the short-handed Lions.
The victory wrapped up a home-and-home sweep over Ludlow and assured the Hornets sole possession of the Tri-County North Championship.
Walter Mazza scored 14 points, Owen Demers grabbed nine rebounds, and Jacob Howland passed out six assists as McCann Tech improved to 11-3 with its fifth straight win.
Two days earlier, the Hornets beat Ludlow by seven points on the road to clinch a share of the league title.
In the rematch, the Lions were missing a couple of regulars due to injury, but that does not fully explain why McCann Tech was able to put a stranglehold on the visitors and put the game away before intermission.
“We play really well here,” McCann Tech coach Chris Bullett said. “I’ve got a young team, so they’re much more comfortable at home than they are on the road, obviously. I don’t think we’re 30 points better, but we play well here. We’re always happy to be here.”
The Hornets Saturday improved to 6-0 this winter in the Hive. This one came in front of a sold-out crowd.
As the teams finished up their warmups, a crowd of disappointed fans gathered in the hallway lamenting the fact that there were no more seats available for the game.
“The community really comes out and supports us,” Bullett said. “I love when this place is packed. I wish it was a little bit more of an exciting game tonight. It didn’t really have that energy.”
The home faithful had no trouble getting excited in the early going, especially when the McCann Tech offense got going late in the first quarter.
It was a 7-0 lead six minutes in when Owen Gagne (10 points, seven rebounds) hit a pull-up jumper. Moments later, Cole Boisvert scored in the post to stretch the lead to 11. Howland got fouled driving in transition and made one free throw to give the home team a 12-0 lead after one.
The offense continued to click in the second, as Howland set up Gagne on back-to-back possessions to make it 16-0.
“I was disappointed with the over-dribbling at the beginning, in the first quarter” Bullett said. “But [Howland] takes coaching so well. We talked about it.
“He got 31 at their place, so they were double-teaming him and trying to take him away. We talked, and he knew he had to find the other guys. Other guys were going to be open, and he distributed the ball really well.”
Mazza put on a show for the home crowd in the second quarter, scoring eight of his 14. He also finished with seven rebounds.
“Mazza is going to be a monster when he grows up,” Bullett said of the sophomore. “He’s just getting where he’s confident as an offensive player. He’s always done the ‘glue guy’ stuff, since he got here. And we’ve been telling him, ‘Shoot, shoot.’ We want him shooting more, and he’s finally starting to accept that and look for the basket more.”
Ludlow scored its first points with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first half to cut the lead to 16-2, and the McCann Tech led, 29-4, at half-time.
But the Lions started the second half with a 6-2 spurt that included four points from Matt Mendez.
Gagne stopped that run when he scored in the post off a pass from Howland, and the Hornets got the lead back to 25 points with a minute left in the third.
The Lions chipped away at that margin in the fourth quarter with McCann Tech’s starters on the bench, but the Hornets’ reserves did a good job of making sure things did not get too hairy.
“I’m proud of the bench,” Bullett said. “In the past, we’ve had situations where we would do something like that, and the game would get back to five, 10 points. These guys work so hard, they deserve to play. Sometimes, they don’t get minutes even though they should.
“I was happy to get them a chance tonight with a good run of minutes, and they all performed really well. I was especially happy with Jason Knapp tonight off the bench. He’s just a leader on our bench. He works so hard, and he gets everything he can out of his skills.”
McCann Tech hosts Mount Everett on Monday.
