Hoosac Valley Boys Right Ship, Sail Past Mount Greylock
CHESHIRE, Mass. -- Hoosac Valley boys basketball coach called out his team after a Friday night loss.
He did it again after a slow start on Saturday afternoon.
In the third quarter, the Hurricanes answered the call.
Hoosac Valley used an 11-3 run to erase an eight-point half-time deficit and went on to a 51-38 win over Mount Greylock.
“I think the message was sent in the second quarter,” Robinson said, referring to which players were on the floor at the end of the first half. “If you’re not going to play the Hurricane way, you won’t play at all.
“Like I said last night [against Monument Mountain], we went rogue. And we started that stuff again today, and it’s just not the way we do it. I laid into them a little bit. They played a little better in that second half.”
A “little better,” like outscoring the visitors by a margin of 33-12 and by scoring nearly all of their baskets in transition, at the foul line or off assists in the half-court.
“That’s what I was looking for,” Robinson said. “The selfish play has gotta go. We’ve got to play our game.”
Carson Meczywor scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds, all in the second half, and Frank Field had nine of his 11 points after half-time.
The game was played in Hoosac Valley’s middle school gym after a wet spot on the floor of the main gym led to an injured player in the varsity girls game earlier in the day.
And in the first half, the Mounties (0-11) made themselves at home in the unfamiliar surroundings.
Mount Greylock used a 12-2 run in the second quarter to go up by as many as 11.
The run started with a 16-footer by Max McAlister (seven points) and ended with some strong play by Chase Doyle and Pablo Santos.
First, Santos set up Doyle in the post for a bucket to make it 24-15. Then Doyle stole the ball to set up a Santos bucket in transition.
Hoosac Valley’s Gabe Bishop hit a 3-pointer just before half-time to get the margin back to single digits at the break.
It was a seven-point Mount Greylock lead early in the third when Meczywor drove the left wing and got to the foul line, where he hit one to make it 29-23. He went on to hit a pair of 3-pointers to tie it before Seamus Barnes (10 points, eight rebounds) scored in the post to give the Mounties their last lead of the game at 31-29.
Meczywor put back his own miss to tie the game, and Logan Davis set up Field for a triple at the buzzer to put the Hurricanes on top for good, 34-31, with eight minutes to play.
Meczywor and Joey McGovern had assists in a 7-0 spurt to open the fourth and open up a double-digit lead, and the Mounties never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
“It’s been a tough go,” said Robinson, who this winter returned to the bench at Hoosac Valley after a couple of years away. “Trying to change the culture. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t know it was going to be this hard.”
Hoosac Valley (8-2) hosts Wahconah on Monday night.
Mount Greylock is at Drury on Monday.