Barnes Leads Mount Greylock in Senior Night Win

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Mount Greylock senior Aidan Barnes celebrated his Unified Basketball career with his family prior to Monday's home finale.

 

He then celebrated each of his 11 made baskets for  a game-high 22 points in a 56-47 win over Pittsfield.

 

During the Senior Night festivities, Mount Greylock coach Liza Barrett said that Barnes has been known as the "heart and soul" of the Mounties' Unified team.

 

"When I asked the other players what they were going to miss about Aiden, they said they're going to miss playing with him, first of all," Barrett said. "And they said they're going to miss his passion for the game.

 

"He's the reason that we have 17 players out here playing for us."

 

One Mountie who joined the program this year is Barnes' classmate, Josue Rubio. He contributed six points in Monday's win.

 

Barrett said that Rubio's fellow Mounties will miss his smile, which shows through despite the face covering he and his teammates have been forced to wear throughout the season.

 

Like Barnes, senior Henry Art has been with the Mount Greylock Unified program since the team started.

 

Barrett said that the dedicated senior has been not just a leader this fall but like "an assistant coach" for her in her third campaign on the Mounties' bench.

 

This was the first year that Mount Greylock has had two Berkshire County rivals to contend with, and the newest program around was on hand for Monday's festivities.

 

Trey MacHaffie scored a team-high 11 points, and Benedicta Bonsu added 10.

 

It was a back-and-forth first half.

 

The Mounties pulled out to a seven-point lead on a bucket by Narey to open the second quarter and the Generals fought back with a 7-2 run to pull within a pair at 20-18 on a basket from Jonathan Seddon (eight points).

 

Mount Greylock stretched their lead back to eight at 28-20, but MacHaffie put back a rebound at the buzzer to make it a six-point margin at half-time.

 

That is pretty much where it stayed throughout the second half.

 

The Generals did get within five at one point with a 7-0 spurt. All the points came from MacHaffie, who knocked down the game's only 3-pointer during that stretch.

 

But Mount Greylock's Devika Sharma put back a rebound to end that run and scored two more on her way to an 18-point night run to settle the Mounties.

 

Rosa Baez scored six points, and Jake Bassi added three for Pittsfield, which got two points apiece from Daryn Witheral, Eric Vega, Connor Mack and David Castagnero.

 

Photos from this game here.