Wahconah Unified Basketball Edges Mount Greylock
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Tony Marra drove the ball the length of the court, made a spin move in the post and knocked down a shot in the closing moments to provide the margin of victory in the Wahconah Unified Basketball team's 48-46 win over Mount Greylock on Monday.
Marra's fourth field goal of the game gave Wahconah a 48-44 lead with 1 minute, 45 seconds left on the clock.
Mount Greylock's Devika Sharma answered with two of her game-high 32 points at the other end.
But the defenses clamped down from there, producing three empty trips in the closing minute to secure Wahconah's winning margin.
Dillon Marra led a balanced Wahconah offense with 12 points. Sam Iovieno scored 10, and Brock Prett added eight in the win. Cam Catelotti scored six.
Iovieno has been a welcome addition for Wahconah in the Fall 2 season.
"He's one of the middle school kids who gets to play with a waiver," Wahconah coach Dustin Belcher said. "He came a long way. And we picked up some other new kids. I'm really excited about our numbers. We have 14 kids.
"It's definitely built from the first year. And this is important, getting the kids out there playing."
Monday's win allowed Wahconah to even the season series against its only Berkshire County rival on the Unified Basketball circuit.
The contest also marked the second straight breakout performance for Sharma, who scored 12 in the fourth quarter in last week's win in Dalton.
"She joined late, and at first she was pretty sure she only wanted to do practices and not play games," Mount Greylock coach Liza Barrett said. "We said, 'That's fine.' And then we encouraged her to go in the fourth quarter of the first game, and the first time she touched the ball she scored. I think she got the bug.
"In practice, she hadn't really been a scorer, but then Marlee Alpi, her teammate, worked with her for half an hour on a basket. Marlee put her down on the block and kept giving her the ball and teaching her how to use the backboard."
The Mounties on Monday got 14 points from Aidan Barnes, who led the team in scoring in its opener but was more of a distributor this week, consistently finding Sharma or another open teammate in a good spot to shoot.
"Aidan has really become a team player," Barrett said. "He's not concerned about his own points. He scores when we need him to and he can, but he's not concerned about his own points. He's such a great teammate. He's really looking for the pass first."
Mount Greylock will travel to Dalton on Friday for the Round 3 of the season series.