Hoosac Valley Boys Pull Out Win at Drury
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- A late winter Friday night, Drury's and Hoosac Valley's boys in the house and points were hard to come by.
"The only thing missing was the fans," Hurricanes coach Bill Robinson said.
They missed -- those who did not watch the feed on iBerkshires.com's Facebook page -- yet another classic finish in this Northern Berkshire County rivalry.
Logan Davis hit a pair of free throws with 1 minute, 1 second left to play to give the Hurricanes a one-point lead, and Hoosac Valley made two big stops down the stretch to secure a 40-39 win.
Hoosac Valley (17-2) took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, but Drury (4-3) rallied to take the lead after holding its guests to just one point in seven minutes.
Drury's Tim Brazeau led all scorers with 14 points, and Ben Moulton was the only other player in double figures with 10.
Carson Meczywor scored nine points to lead the Hurricanes, and freshman Joey McGovern scored eight when his team really needed the boost.
After a back-and-forth first half that saw the Hurricanes emerge up, 21-17, Hoosac Valley got a little separation midway through the third when Meczywor was fouled in transition and made both to put his team up, 29-21.
But Drury answered with a 6-0 spurt: two Moulton baskets wrapped around Anthony Pettengill's score in transition.
McGovern then scored on three straight Hoosac Valley possessions for an 8-2 run to the end of the quarter. He made 3-pointers on back-to-back trips to end the period to give the Hurricanes a 37-29 lead.
The second triple ended up being Hoosac Valley's last field goal of the night.
"He had a nice little stretch there where he hit a couple of 3s and gave us some breathing room, but then we coughed it up," Robinson said. "We've got to learn to put the foot down and put teams away. We just didn't do it. The beginning of the fourth quarter, we didn't do a damn thing. We didn't score."
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils chipped away.
Brazeau got the comeback started with a bucket in the post. Moments later, Moulton hit both ends of a one-and-one to make it a one-score game at 38-35. Two Drury possessions later, Brazeau scored again underneath to make it a one-point game.
Then, after making a steal on the defensive end, Zach Davignon hit a pullup on the baseline at the other end to give Drury a 39-38 lead, its first since it led, 14-13, midway through the second quarter.
On Hoosac Valley's ensuing possession, Davis was fouled driving to the basket and made both his free throws to retake the lead.
And the Hurricanes' defense made stops on two Drury possessions in the final minute to maintain the lead.
"You know what you're going to get, it's always low-scoring, you know you've got to grind it out," Drury coach Jack Racette said of the rivalry. "You've just got to be effective and efficient down the stretch. That just comes with experience.
"We don't know who to go to yet. We want to go to our big, but we can't get him the ball. Then our big starts stepping out. And that's not really want we want, but it relieves pressure from our guards. ... We move Moulton to the point, just a little bit. Those are the things that we decipher over 100 days of playing and practicing and figuring out where we can go.
"But we competed. That's the best thing. We competed, but we came out on the short end. Sometimes you make them, sometimes you don't."
Drury got one last chance when Hoosac Valley missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.1 seconds on the clock. The Blue Devils grabbed the rebound and got the ball into the front court but could not get off a shot before time expired.
The Blue Devils, who did not get on the floor to practice until late February and did not play a game before March 1, continue a very busy three-week stretch on Saturday when they go to Mount Greylock.
Hoosac Valley finished its season with the rivalry win.
"We had a lot of tight games that could have gone the other way, but we're building some mental toughness, which is good," Robinson said. "We certainly are trying to get a little more physical, but overall, I'm really happy with the results this year.
"We have to be. The fact that we made it through and played 19 games, first of all, is a miracle. Then, for our kids to excel, from where they were. We had a lot to change."