Barnes, Balance Key Mount Greylock Boys' Win
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Four players finished in double figures, and the Mount Greylock boys basketball team won its fourth in a row on Thursday night.
Seamus Barnes led the way with 20 points and 12 rebounds in a 70-51 win over Athol.
The Mounties used 15 points from Max McAlister and 10 apiece from Jackson Powell and Adam Sandifer in running their record to 4-2 this winter.
Mount Greylock coach Bob Thistle was happy to see the balance in his team’s attack.
“That’s what you’re looking for,” he said. “You look around the county, and you have a dominant player or a couple of dominant players. And that’s always the goal: How do you take this guy away or that guy away?
“When you have four different guys scoring, it’s hard to focus on one guy.”
Mount Greylock led pretty much wire-to-wire on Thursday night. The Mounties never trailed and maintained the lead after Sandifer scored in the post to make it 4-2 midway through a low-scoring first quarter.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Thistle said. “We went to scout Athol the other night, and they played really well against Naragansett, beat them by 20. They’re a senior-laden team, and we really are a young team.
“I think the kids didn’t back down, played well on our home court, and we’re happy to win four in a row.”
McAlister did most of his damage in the first half, scoring 11 before intermission.
Late in the first quarter, he had a steal and a bucket in transition to give the Mounties their first double-digit lead at 15-5.
The margin stayed right around 10 until the hosts pulled away with a 12-4 run in the third quarter.
Barnes started things with a basket off an assist from Sandifer to make it 36-26.
Barnes then assisted on a Sandifer basket and scored two more of his own before Powell capped the run with a transition basket to make it 46-30 with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left in the third.
Beau Manning (team-high 17) scored early in the fourth to get the Bears within 10 at 51-41, but Mount Greylock erased all doubt with a 9-0 spurt to make it 60-41 when Powell fed Barnes for his final points of the night.
The Mounties were able to withstand the Bears’ press in the fourth quarter and find some quick opportunities at the offensive end. And when Mount Greylock needed to pull the ball out and run some clock, McAlister was able to keep the offense clicking.
“The sign of a young team is that you have to learn from some of these experiences,” Thistle said. “Athol is a good team. … They’re going to throw a lot of things at you, and I think our kids handled things with poise.
“We told [McAlister], ‘You have the keys. You have the keys to the car.’ You need a point guard, and he’s getting more vocal. Every single guy and every single coach can always do something better, but I really think he took charge of the offense tonight. So I’m proud of him.”
Mount Greylock goes to Lenox on Tuesday.