Monument Mountain Boys Outlast Drury
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Monument Mountain boys basketball team defeated Drury in the season opener, 69-55, on Friday night.
Monument’s Manny Brown led all scorers with 30 points while Isaiah Keefner added 14 and Griffin McElroy 11.
Monument (1-0) got its season going in the right direction with a tough win against a familiar foe. The Spartans controlled the offensive glass early on giving them the spark they needed to take an early lead. The Spartans looked to push the ball and chance they got and with some timely steals were able to get out in transition to give them a 16-8 lead in the first quarter.
Drury (0-1) did a great job responding throughout the whole game no matter how many times it seemed as though Monument was going to pull away. After a timeout by Drury they went on a 6-0 run itself with under two minutes in the quarter to bring them back within three points, 17-14.
Jorge Bond had seven in the first quarter and a team high, 21 points for Drury setting up a special battle between him and Brown. Sam Moorman finished with 10 points for the Blue Devils and Freshman Sam Bullett added nine of his own.
These two teams continued to trade baskets in the second quarter, not allowing either side to get separation. While Monument took advantage of the transition baskets, Drury was able to stick around from deep, knocking down three triples at timely moments.
“Every time we made a run Drury made one to get right back into it,” Monument Mountain head coach Randy Koldys said. “We thought we didn’t put them away as well as we could have but that is credit to Jack [Racette] and the way his kids play so hard. We responded really nicely in some different situations.”
Monument finished the half with a four point lead, 32-28, with hopes of continuing that moment in the second half. Similar to how the first half started the Spartans went right back to it in the third on the back of Manny Brown who scored 11 in the third quarter alone.
But just like Koldys mentioned, the Blue Devils would not give up. Drury was able to get back to back breakaway steals from Sammy Moorman and Sam Bullet to force Monument into a timeout. Finally, with just over a minute left in the quarter Drury secured their first lead of the game thanks to a Sam Moorman and-one to give them a 44-43 lead.
Although it was a big momentum shift for the home Blue Devils, it didn’t last long. Monument went on a 6-0 run of their own to regain the lead and head to the fourth quarter leading by five.
This time Monument Mountain built on that run and broke the game open to its biggest lead of the night, 11. Keefner and McElroy took over in the final quarter for the Spartans, knocking down some big 3-pointers that would push the lead out of Drury’s reach despite one last effort by Drury to bring the game within striking distance. Monument outscored Drury 20-11 in the quarter and secured the win in their first game of the season in a tough away gymnasium.
“Drury is a tough place to play, you know you’re going to get their best effort and it was pretty much a rock fight for three quarters,” Randy Koldys said. ”I was really pleased with how we responded in the fourth quarter and pulled away with some good sets. First game out you don’t know what to expect and that's exactly what happened so we’ll take it.”
Monument will look to build upon this momentum Monday night against Belchertown, on the road. Drury will take some of the positives from this early contest and hope to bounce back on Tuesday against Southwick. Drury was without two of their starters from last season Myles Beauchamp and Connor Hinkell, who will be back to give them a boost later in the season.