Mount Everett Boys Clamp Down on Defense, Even Record
TURNERS FALLS, Mass. -- Mount Everett senior Cavan Brady Friday nearly doubled up the competition all by himself.
That kind of stat line is always noteworthy. But what was really impressive was not Brady’s scoring total, a solid 17.
It was the opponent’s.
Mount Everett played stifling defense in evening its record at 1-1 with a 45-9 win over Mohawk Trail in the consolation game of Franklin Tech’s Eagle Holiday Classic.
After Mohawk (0-2) scored five points in a two-minute stretch at the end of the first quarter, the Eagles allowed just four more points over the next 24 minutes, a stretch that included a 16-0 second quarter.
“All 32 minutes, all we talk about are defense and rebounding,” Mount Everett coach Jowe Warren said. “Offense will come.
“We have a lot of new players who haven’t played organized basketball before. The offense is going to take time. But everybody can play defense and rebound, and if they’re doing that, they’re going to be on the court for me.”
A night after giving up 70 points to 2017 Western Mass Division 4 quarter-finalist Ware, Mount Everett followed its game-plan to perfection on Friday.
“If we buy into [the defense], and we play like that, we’ll have a chance to upset some teams that might be more talented than us,” Warren said. “If we grind and grind and keep on the boards and play defense, that’s how we’ll get wins this year.”
Brady had 14 rebounds and four steals to go with his 17 points.
Nine different Eagles had at least two boards, and eight had at least a steal.
Blaise Twing scored eight points, and Jim Gulotta had six to help back up Brady’s offensive output. Gulottta also had nine rebounds, and Jack Carpenter and Patrick Silk pulled down five boards apiece.
The decisive run started with a couple of forced turnovers early in the second quarter. Each led to a Brady lay-up, the second pushing Mount Everett’s margin to 15-5, a double-digit lead it never relinquished.
After Nikos Casivant put back an offensive rebound, Brady sank a 3-pointer to make it 20-5. One trip later, Silk fed Anthony Lupiani in the post to make it 22-5. Gulotta sank a 3, and Twing drove the lane for a bucket to make it 27-5 at half-time.
The third quarter was more of the same as Mount Everett pushed its lead to 39-7 before easing up at the offensive end for most of the final frame.
Brady did a little bit of everything for the Eagles, adding a couple of assists and a block to go with his game-high scoring and rebounding totals.
“One of the adjustments being undersized was we started dropping him down below on defense,” Warren said of Brady, who was named to the all-tournament team. “He was coming up with some big blocks, boxing out, coming up with some boards. And he did a ton for us on the offensive end as well.
“He’s an all-around player, and for us to be successful, he’s going to have to continue doing those types of things.”
Mount Everett goes to Mohawk Trail on Thursday.