Wahconah Rallies Past Drury
DALTON, Mass. – A big third quarter from the Wahconah boys basketball team got them past Drury, 60-46, at home on Friday night.
Evan Alfonso's big second half helped secure the win for Wahconah as he put up 14 of his 21 points after half-time. Jack DuCharme matched Alfonso with three from beyond the arc on his way to 13 points.
It was a tale of two halves for Wahconah (3-9) offensively as it struggled to find the right pattern to break down this Drury defense.
Drury’s Sam Moorman started the game off on fire, scoring seven of his 14 on the night, including a nice and-one to start off the game. He and Jorge Bond accounted for all Drury’s first quarter points as they kept a slender, 12-11 lead going into the second. Bond finished the game with 10 points.
Baskets were hard to come by for both teams in the first half and a majority of the time was spent winding down the shot clock looking for a way to break the defense. Drury’s hot start cooled off in the second quarter, but the Blue Devils were able to maintain a lead for most of the half. After Wahconah was able to tie the game up with less than a minute to go in the half, James Varellas was able to answer back with a 3-pointer right at the buzzer to give the visitors a 23-20 lead.
Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said one of their focuses on tonight's game was making sure they came out strong to start the half, something they haven’t been able to do all season long. That message was heard on Friday, because Wahconah completely flipped the game on its head, dominating the third quarter on both ends of the floor.
Wahconah held Drury to just seven points in the quarter and gave them fits with their length in the zone. Combined with the great defense Wahconah was able to put up 20 points in the quarter giving them the cushion they needed to see this game out.
“We have struggled all year coming out after the half, I tell them all the time we are in the frying pan. We are playing a tough league with a tough schedule and those teams have punished us coming out of the half slow,” Belcher said. “It was definitely a key focus and I was proud of the way we responded.”
It seemed like Wahconah was playing with an extra man on defense the way they closed the space against Drury and that defense fueled their offense with quick ball movement that they were able to exploit for corner threes. Wahconah hit six 3s in the half and most were in the short corner when they were able to go inside and out.
The one bright spot for Drury in the second half came from 8th-grader Brayden Durant, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including three from beyond the arc. It was too little too late as Wahconah had already sent the final blow. At one point in the third quarter the game was a one score lead, 33-31 for Wahconah and they were able to stretch that lead to, 43-32 leaving no doubt of the final result.
In the fourth quarter both teams continued to fight till the end but Wahconah’s Alfonso was able to keep Drury back, scoring 10 of his 21 in the fourth.
“Evan Alfonso had an incredible game tonight leading us and making some big shots, but I thought we did a really good job as a whole moving the ball and knocking down those 3s were huge,” Belcher said.
It has been a grueling season for Wahconah with the new league and strength of schedule and this win helps stop a two-game skid. It will look to build on the momentum from Friday when it plays West Springfield on Tuesday.
As for the Blue Devils they will shake this one off and hope to get some home cooking when they play Mahar, at home, Tuesday.