Drury Stays Alive with Gritty Win Over PHS
PITTSFIELD, Mass — Needing to win the final four games of the regular season to make the playoffs, the Drury boys' basketball team took the first step on Saturday night by earning a hard-fought 49-45 victory over Pittsfield in the opening game of the Hoop Club Classic.With the win, the Blue Devils improved their record to 7-10 and avoided elimination from the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament. They also avoided a third loss to the Generals (9-7) this season. After losing twice to Pittsfield by four points each time earlier in the season, Drury bounced back with a four-point win of its own thanks to some sharp shooting from 3-point land. Senior forward Tyler Benoit made three out of his team's eight triples on the night to finish with a game-high 19 points.
As his team clings to hope of a berth in the postseason, Benoit has certainly pulled his weight on the offensive end in the past three games. The power forward has averaged 21 points a game and hit seven threes overall as the Blue Devils have gone 2-1 in their past three contests. He'll need to keep that scoring punch going the rest of the season with tough games against Wahconah, Hoosac Valley and Taconic still on the schedule.
Juniors Robert Jutras and Max Quinn also contributed big in the win over the Generals, scoring nine and eight points, respectively. Drury outscored Pittsfield 14-8 in the second quarter to open a 28-21 lead at the half. The Generals came back in the third quarter by holding the Devils to just four points, but Drury put the game away in the fourth quarter by outscoring their opponent 17-15.
Keiland Cross led Pittsfield with 17 points on the night, while Brendan Hamel chipped in with 10.
The Blue Devils play at Wahconah on Tuesday night before hosting rival Hoosac Valley on Thursday evening.