Hoosac Valley Boys Score 94 in Season Opening Win
CHESHIRE, Mass. – The Hoosac Valley boys basketball team will face tougher tests than it did against a shorthanded Baystate Academy team on Monday night.
But even in a 94-57 blowout, Hurricanes coach Bill Robinson was able to learn some things about his squad in its season opener.
“It was good to see how we move – defensively, offensively – the energy level,” Robinson said. “You can learn something every game.
“Tonight, I learned we play well when we’re ahead,” he added with a smile.
The ‘Canes were ahead all night after Adan Wicks poured in 16 points to help his team take a 31-3 lead in the first quarter.
It was 56-19 at half-time, and Baystate, which was without three members of its 10-player varsity roster, was never able to put much of a dent in that margin.
Trevor Moynihan scored 19 points, and Qwanell Bradley had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Twelve different Hurricanes put a mark in the scorebook, and nine different players had at least one assist.
Bradley and Wicks each had three assists, and Wicks finished the night with a team-high 27 points.
The junior guard averaged seven points per game last year on a team led by a pair of 1,000 point scorers.
“He had flashes last year,” Robinson said of Wicks. “His role grows this year. He’s got to be that guy. We have a couple of them who have to step up, and he had a tremendous night.
“He’s herky jerky, right. He kind of moves directions quickly. He’s a good player. We’ve got some decent guard play right now. We need some big guys to come along, because we’re small.”
Hoosac Valley put the game away with a 25-0 run to close out the first quarter.
Moynihan, Blake Mazzeo (eight points) and Wicks hit three straight 3-pointers to get the run going. After a Wicks jumper from the elbow, he knocked down another triple, assisted by Mazzeo, to make it 20-3. Moynihan, who averaged 11 points per game last year as an eighth-grader, scored in transition and hit another of his three 3-pointers before the quarter was out.
The visitors were able to make things more respectable the rest of the way thanks to Jansiel Barreiro, who scored just three in the first quarter but finished the night with a game-high 38 points – 18 on 3-pointers.
A lot of those points came against Hoosac Valley’s bench.
Robinson had the luxury of getting plenty of work from his reserves, who held their own.
“We have a lot of kids who never played before, and they all got into the book, which was good,” he said. “They all scored a little bit. We’ve got a long road the rest of the way, so I’m not sure how many more minutes they’re going to get.
“It was good to get the butterflies out and go out and see that they can play at this level.”
Hoosac Valley (1-0) hits the road for its next three games, starting Wednesday at Belchertown.
Photos from this game to come.