Drury Boys Repeat as Western Mass Champions
AMHERST, Mass. -- Scott McGuire Jr. scored 45 points, and Keegan Vidal hit a clutch 3-pointer in overtime Saturday to lead the Drury boys basketaball team to an 85-82 win over Baystate Charter in the Western Massachusetts Division 4 Championship game.
McGuire pulled down 10 rebounds and passed out four assists for the Blue Devils, who repeated as sectional champions for the second straight year.
"We can't say enough about McGuire," Drury coach Jack Racette said of the program's all-time leading scorer. "I know last year, they talked about us losing Reece [Racette], and a lot of teams didn't think we'd be back here.
"When I lose McGuire, the work will begin, man, because you're losing a lot. We're going to enjoy this one, that's for sure."
Although in some ways it was a familiar script for Drury with McGuire scoring half the team's points, the biggest bucket came from a senior who was not even at the school for last year's Western Mass title run.
Vidal, who transferred to Drury over the summer from McCann Tech, buried a triple from the right side with 
less than a minute left in overtime to erase a deficit and give the Blue Devils an 83-81 lead.
less than a minute left in overtime to erase a deficit and give the Blue Devils an 83-81 lead.
"Keegan, coming in, he comes off the bench, and it's tough for him, a senior, with where he came from, taking a lot of shots," Racette said. "He bought in.
"We ran the play for him. I said, 'You're gonna be wide open. I don't know why you keep trying to drbble to the baseline.' He dribbled to the baseline, and he was taking a 12-foot jumper. I'm like: Pull the trigger.
"And he did, and it was huge."
Vidal's go-ahead trifecta was set up by a stop at the other end, where senior Dante Woodson took a charge to deny Baystate a chance to build on its one-point lead.
McGuire and Vidal split the scoring load in OT, with McGuire scoring five.
His free throw with 18.5 seconds left gave the Blue Devils a three-point margin. After the Bulldogs got one point back at the foul line with 8 seconds on the clock, Vidal provided the final margin with a free throw with 6.8 seconds left in OT.
The Blue Devils and Bulls put on an offensive show in the first quarter, ending up tied, 19-19, through the first eight mintues of the game.
Drury's McGuire had 11 of those points, incluidng two that came on a spectacular alley-oop pass from Keegan Vidal.
The Blue Devils took an early six-point lead after Dante Woodson scored with an assist from Hunter Sarkis.
But Baystate answered with a 7-0 run of its own, and the teams traded blow for blow the rest of the way.
It was a one-point Baystate lead early in the second quarter when Drury went on an 11-0 run to take a double-digit lead.
Sarkis scored in transition with a feed from McGuire and hit a 3 off a pass from Keegan Vidal in the run, 
which ended when McGuire drove the lane to make it 32-22.
which ended when McGuire drove the lane to make it 32-22.
Baystate cut into the margin with 3-pointers on back-to-back-possessions late in the half, but McGuire hit a contested half-court shot at the buzzer to send his team to the locker room up, 42-35.
The margin stayed between six and eight points most of the second half, until Baystate made a late charge.
Just after McGuire scored to put the Blue Devils up, 71-62, with about four minutes left in regulation, the Bulldogs got a 3-pointer from Dion Byrd to ignite a 14-5 run to the end of the fourth.
Baystate tied it, 72-72, when Travis Jordan (24 points) scored in the post in the final two minutes.
McGuire answered by driving the left wing, but Jordan set up teammate Rodney Mayfield in the post on the Bulldogs' next possession.
Woodson converted an offensive rebound to give Drury its last lead of regulation at 76-74, but Jordan scored a layup with 6 seconds left, and McGuire was unable to get a good look at the basket at the buzzer, sending the game to OT.