.jpg)
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Drury boys basketball team’s defense made it difficult for Pioneer Valley to score all night on Thursday.
In the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils made it next to impossible.
Drury held the previously unbeaten Panthers scoreless for the last six minutes and used a 9-0 run to earn a 45-42 win.
Pioneer Valley’s Brayden Thayer hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth to give the Panthers their biggest lead of the night at 42-36.
But Drury’s Jorge Bond (11 points) answered with a triple at the other end to spark a 8-0 spurt that took four minutes.
It was a 44-42 Drury lead when the Panthers’ Hugh Cynowski got a defensive rebound with about 54 seconds left.
Pioneer Valley called timeout with nine seconds on the shot clock.
The baseline inbounds pass found Josh Wood (game-high 16 points) on the sideline, but senior Donte Dillard and ninth-grader Bond trapped Wood and forced a turnover.
By the time Pioneer Valley got Drury to the foul line, with 14.9 seconds on the clock, Dillard made one of his free throws to make it a three-point margin.
Pioneer Valley got off a 3-pointer and, after Kurt Redeker offensive rebound, a desperation try from the corner before Sam Moorman (10 points, 13 rebounds) grabbed the carom to end the game.
“I thought we did a good job defensively,” Drury coach Jack Racette said. “We held them to 42 points. A lot of them were off offensive rebounds.
“We had seven days to prepare, and they are a great team. It’s just another day for us. We’ve got to get better at some things. Our offensive sets weren’t really good. But, again, that’s a quality team, and I’m proud of the way our kids hung tough. They hung tough at the end.”
And Drury (5-2) also hung tough at the beginning, when the Panthers (7-1) took an early lead with a 7-2 run.
Myles Beauchamp broke that run when he hit a 3-pointer with an assist from Moorman to make it a one-
possession game.
Beauchamp went on to make two more triples in the first quarter on his way to tying for game-high honors with 16 points.
“That was huge for us to get off to a good start,” Racette said of Beauchamp’s first-quarter shooting. “I was worried when they went up 7-2, and I had to call timeout. We weren’t settled in.
“That game speed. You know, seven days off.You can practice all you want, but that game speed is something different. We got settled in, and I thought we played decent. We’ve got to build off it and keep getting better every day.”
Beauchamp ended the first quarter with a 3 to put the Blue Devils ahead, 17-12.
It was a 27-20 lead at half-time, but Wood scored eight points in the third quarter to help Pioneer Valley pull ahead, 38-36, with eight minutes to play.
After falling behind by six early in the fourth, Bond’s triple kick-started Drury’s offense.
With 4 minutes, 48 seconds to play, Connor Hinkell put back an offensive rebound to get Drury within a point.
With 3:09 left, Dillard drove to the basket and drew a foul. He made one of two at the line to tie the game, 42-42. Then, with 1:42 left, Bond took a pass from Dillard at the top of the key, took a dribble to his right and drained a 17-footer to give the Blue Devils a four-point margin.
Drury Tuesday will look for its third win in a row when it goes to Frontier.
