NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Drury boys basketball team advanced to the Western Massachusetts Class C finals after an easy win over Lenox, 60-44, on Wednesday night.
Drury (15-4) protected the No. 1 seed in the tournament and advanced to Saturday’s 4 p.m. final against Paulo Freire at MCLA.
It was a slow start for both teams, but Drury was able to find its groove midway through the quarter with a 7-0 run. The run was led by Tim Brazeau who had six of his 16 points in the first quarter.
Louis Guilotte led all scorers with 22 points, and Amont David had 10. Drury as a team held Lenox to no points in the first seven minutes of the game. It wasn’t until a corner 3-pointer with 46 seconds left in the quarter before Lenox got on the board.
Drury took a 12-3 lead into the second quarter. Despite the lack of scoring by Lenox, one bright spot for the Millionaires came on the glass with Drury struggling to keep Lenox off the offensive boards. This has been something Drury has struggled with all year and will need to clean it up before the state tournament.
“Yea, I thought we were really playing slow tonight, our defense was exceptional in the first quarter so we didn’t really need pressure, but that definitely affects our rebounding offensively when the games are not loose,” Drury coach Jack Racette said.
It was a playoff atmosphere at Bucky Bullett Gymnasium, and things got chippy throughout the second quarter with Lenox getting into some early foul trouble. Drury was able to play above the noise and distractions and cruised into the half with a 16-point lead. Drury led by double digits for almost the whole game and didn’t really need to rely on the defensive pressure to speed the game up.
“What’s really important is getting stops when you need them,” Racette said. “I think going forward playing fast will just come with the nature of the teams we will be playing so we have to be able to lock in defensively.
“I really wanted pressure tonight, but we only allowed three points in the first quarter. We had no reason to speed the game up.”
They were able to rely on Louis Guilotte throughout the game whenever they needed a bucket. Guilotte was also great from the line going 5-for-6 on the night. If Drury is going to make some noise in the state tournament they will need nights like tonight from Guillotte to help lead the way.
Brazeau was not only a force down low but also protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds. It was a quiet night for Ben Moulton but going forward Drury knows what they can get from the knock down shooter.
Although Drury had a comfortable lead in the first half, it stepped things up in the second half and really started to emphasize holding Lenox to one shot on the offensive end. This allowed the Blue Devils (16-4) to stretch the lead at times and really start putting their focus on Saturday’s championship game.
Emmett Shove and Michael Butler each discord 11 to lead Lenox, which finishes the regular season 10-9.
