WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Judge Martin scored just five points for the Mount Greylock boys basketball team in Thursday’s 60-36 win over Lee.
But his 20 rebounds were the difference as the Mounties won their second straight and improved to 3-2 overall and 3-0 in the Hampshire North Division.
Martin’s dominance on the boards not only garnered extra possessions for his team, it also allowed him to turn those possessions into fast break opportunities with heads-up passing.
“He’s a great outlet passer,” Mount Greylock coach Tommy Verdell said of the senior pivot. “I jokingly call him Kevin Love or [Nikola] Jokic, whatever I’m feeling like on that morning – more for his passing skills than his scoring skills.
“But he’s the hub of our offense. We practice at a certain pace for a certain reason: to make it happen like that. That’s our blueprint.”
The Mounties followed that plan and built a 26-5 midway through the second quarter before the Wildcats (0-6) were able to get anything going offensively.
Mount Greylock guards Desmond Cobb and Noah Kane-Smalls were on the receiving end of the majority of Martin’s passes and led the way in scoring with 23 and 15 points, respectively.
Cobb burst out of the gate with 10 points in the first quarter alone, knocking down two 3-pointers in a 10-0 run to open the game.
Kane-Smalls capped the first quarter with a triple to give the Mounties a 19-5 lead.
Mount Greylock started the second with a 7-0 burst that included a transition bucket by Cobb to go up by 21.
“In the beginning, they just kind of ran on us, and then got a couple of wide open 3s,” Lee coach J.T. Brown said. “After that, I feel like we did a lot better job in the second quarter turning it around. I thought from there on we played pretty decently.”
Shaun Kinney and Michael Lillie each put back an offensive rebound in a stretch that saw Lee outscore the Mounties, 11-7, to get to half-time down, 33-16.
Kinney finished with six points and seven rebounds. Lillie scored six. Joey Abderhalden led the Wildcats with 11 points.
The Mounties stretched their lead in the third quarter with a 14-5 run that saw Cobb and Ward Bianchi each hit a 3-pointer and Kaden Bouchard (eight points) score from just inside the arc.
Cobb,who averaged just less than three points per game on a senior laden Mount Greylock team a year ago, leads this year’s team with just less than 16 points per game after scoring 20 points for the second time in four nights.
“It was good to see him come back, because, in the Drury game, he hurt his ankle,” Verdell said of Cobb. “It happened early in the game, and he was in and out, and I didn’t notice it. But then he didn’t play against Turners [Falls].
“So he’s been out for a week getting better. Today was the first day to have him back, and it was good to have him back. We only have 10 on the varsity roster, so we need everybody.”
Lee will look for its first win next Thursday when it hosts Turners Falls.
Mount Greylock gets an early start on 2024 when it visits 6-0 Pioneer Valley on Tuesday night.
“I just said to the team in the locker room, those on the outside looking at us probably said: We beat the teams that maybe they thought we would beat and lost to the teams that they thought we should lose to,” Verdell said. “Not that those outside voices matter, but on Tuesday, we have a chance to beat someone who, people outside the building will probably say, ‘They’re not going to win that game.’ So here’s our chance to step up to the level.
“Hopefully, our formula works, so we don’t play their game.”
