Drury Advances in Defensive Battle
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Jorge Bond scored 24 points, and the Drury boys basketball team Tuesday held off Athol’s second-half comeback to secure a 47-39 win and a berth in the Western Massachusetts Class C semi-finals.
Bond hit five 3-pointers and went 5-for-6 at the free throw line in the final minutes to put the game away.
The victory sets up a regional semi-final against No. 3 Ware, a 66-30 winner over Lee on Tuesday night.
Second-seeded Drury (14-5) Tuesday won for the first time this winter while scoring fewer than 50 points.
“I thought, defensively, we did a great job,” Drury coach Jack Racette said. “Offensively? Pathetic. That’s the bottom line. We held them to 39 points. We just didn’t execute our offense.
“Seven days off, we were rusty, you know, no excuse. We had some guys sick, but we’ve got to play better if we’re going to win .”
Sam Moorman had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Connor Hinkell scored seven points while grabbing seven boards and passing out three assists.
Ben Kearney and Ethan Bacigalupo scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Athol.
After Bond hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 16 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 11-8, Drury, the Blue Devils never relinquished the lead.
But it was just a four-point margin after a low-scoring first half when the Bears scored the last four points. A baseline jumper from Kearney with more than a minute left in the half made it 19-15, which is where it stood entering the third.
The Blue Devils had their best quarter offensively in the third, leading by as many as 14 when a Bond triple made it 36-22 with 1:10 left in the quarter.
But Athol chipped away, scoring the next six points and making it an eight-point game when Kearney got an and-one in transition with 6:25 left in the game.
Four straight points from Bacigalupo made it a two-possession game at 39-34 with 2:45 left.
Bond stopped that spurt with his fifth triple of the night to put Drury ahead by eight.
Kearney’s 3-pointer again made it a five-point game with 1:55 remaining.
But Drury’s defense clamped down from there, allowing just one Athol bucket in the last two minutes.
Meanwhile, Bond got to the line and converted five of six to keep the upset just out of reach for the visitors.
“We did a great job defensively,” Racette said. “Giving up 39 points – it’s pretty good against anybody. We weren’t very effective, offensively. We’ll get better hopefully.
“We’ve got a tough grind now. We get a day off and play Thursday. If you get to the finals, you get a day off before that one. The nice part is, we don’t have to travel.”