Big Third Quarter Lifts Monument Mountain Boys
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- The Monument Mountain boys basketball team Monday hit four 3-pointers in the third quarter to open up a big lead on Wahconah.
Two of those triples came from Caden Gidarakos.
Gidarakos scored a game-high 17 points as the Spartans took the rubber match of their season series against Wahconah, 48-39.
"That's the kind of shooter he is," Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys said of Gidarakos. "Sometimes, he's a little streaky. But when he gets on a streak like that, he's going to help us a lot.
"And we'll take it. We got contributions from a lot of guys tonight in different ways. We'll take it."
Kyle Wellenkamp scored 11 points, and Khalil Carlson pulled down 14 rebounds as the Spartans improved to 5-1 and won their fifth straight since a season-opening loss in Dalton.
It looked for 16 minutes like this game -- like that one -- would go down to the wire.
Neither team could get its offense untracked in an first half that ended with Wahconah up, 15-13.
The visitors had the best run in that half, scoring five straight to take a 15-11 lead with 2 minutes, 41 seconds left until half-time.
Quinn Gallagher got things started when he drove the lane and got to the line midway through the second. He hit one of his two free throws en route to tying for team-high honors with 10 points.
Two trips later, Ben Noyes (10 points) drove the left wing and converted to give Wahconah a 13-11 lead. Gallagher capped the run at the line, hitting both ends of a one-and-one to make it a four-point margin.
Wellenkamp notched the final points of the last 2:41, scoring in transition to get Monument back within a possession.
The third quarter was a whole different ballgame as Monument scored on its eight possessions to jump out to a 33-24 lead.
Gidarakos hit two 3s during that stretch, and Connor Hanavan connected from NBA range.
Two more transition buckets -- one from Hanavan, one from Gidarakos -- stretched the Spartans' lead to 37-25 going to the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, a Gallagher 3 got Wahconah within 11 at 41-30 with 3:41 left, but Monument scored the next six to take their biggest lead of the night on a conventional three-point play from Gidarakos.
It was the second straight game that Monument Mountain shook off a sluggish first half to seize control in the third quarter. On Saturday, a 17-5 third quarter propelled the Spartans to an eight-point win. Monday night, the 24-10 third quarter was the only period in which Monument Mountain outscored Wahconah.
"Kind of a tale of two halves again," Koldys said. "That's not a good habit to get into at all. Eventually, it's gonna catch up to us, and hopefully we'll learn from that stuff.
"We're just trying to find our way and find our substitution pattern. You'd think we'd have it down now after six games."
Monument Mountain held Wahconah to just 30 points up until the midway point of the fourth. Wahconah staged a late 9-1 run to get the final margin back down to single digits.
"I was really pleased with the defensive effort in the second half," Koldys said. "I thought that turned the game around a little bit. I felt like we did some really good stuff as far as just being up on the ball a little more, getting into the lanes a little more.
"And any time you beat Wahconah, it's a good day."