Monument Mountain Boys Fall in State Final
LOWELL, Mass. – After making eight 3-pointers in the first half of Saturday’s Division 4 State Championship Game, the Georgetown boys basketball team made just one in the second half.
It just happened to be the biggest shot of the game.
Irvin Zapata hit his seventh triple of the game late in the third quarter to give the Royals a 45-43 lead, and Georgetown went on to a 61-54 win over Monument Mountain at the Tsongas Center.
The Spartans, who trailed by 14 points early in the third quarter, used a 17-2 run to go up by one. Christian Blanchard’s defensive rebound at one end led to Griffin McElroy’s trip to the foul line at the other. And McElroy knocked down both his free throws to give the Spartans a 43-42 lead with 2 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third.
But Zapata, who made four 3s in the second quarter alone, hit from beyond the arc to give his team a two-point advantage, and Georgetown never relinquished the lead despite the Spartans drawing within one point a couple of times in the fourth quarter.
Georgetown led by as many as 10 before a three by Manny Brown (team-high 18 points) in the final second accounted for the final margin.
It was just the second triple of the game for Monument Mountain.
“The 3s killed us, in the first half especially,” Monument Mountain coach Randy Koldys said. “And we did a little bit better job in the second half. But the first half, it was just raining, especially [Zapata] just killed us.
“The other problem, too, is we didn’t shoot well. And we turned the ball over too much. We missed a ton of layups, too. Some of the things that happened are self-induced, obviously, and just the fact that we gave up so many … We talked all the time about [Zapata] being a catch-and-shoot guy. And he was a catch-and-shoot guy all day long today, that’s for sure.”
The Spartans (21-3) matched Georgetown shot-for-shot in a high-scoring first quarter.
Brown scored eight, and Dom Calautti (11 points, 13 rebounds, two blocks) scored a four in the first eight minutes, which ended on a Brown buzzer-beater to tie the game at 20-20.
In the second quarter, Georgetown’s defense forced seven Monument Mountain turnovers, and Zapata’s sharp-shooting allowed the Royals to build a 39-26 lead to take into the locker room.
“They’re a great defensive team to hold us to – what was it, 54 points?” Koldys said. “That’s well below our average this year. And they did a great job with that. They just come at you in waves.”
The Spartans averaged 71 points per game coming into Saturday’s final.
Marcos Yones hit a free throw for Georgetown to start the second half and put Monument Mountain in a 40-26 hole.
But Isaiah Keefner drove the baseline for a bucket to start the Spartans on a 17-2 run.
Keefner scored six of his nine points during that stretch. A Brown and-one got the Spartans within one before the free throws from McElroy (10 points, 10 rebounds) gave Monument Mountain its last lead of the game at 43-42.
It was a two-point game at the end of the third quarter, and Calautti converted an offensive rebound early in the fourth to make it 50-49.
“We knew at half-time they were going to keep bringing the intensity,” Calautti said. “We just had to meet it. We got a little flustered at the beginning with their physicality. We didn’t expect it to come from such a small team.
“I feel like once I got that rebound and put it back, I think it sparked a little something, and we started to believe that we can stay with these guys. Eventually, we ended up playing our hearts out, and it just didn’t go our way.”
After Yones again made it a three-point margin for Georgetown, McElroy grabbed a defensive rebound and was fouled with 3:09 on the clock. He made both his free throws to again make it a one-point game at 52-51.
But from there, the Spartans went ice cold on offense, and the Royals mounted a 9-0 run – going 5-for-6 at the foul line – to put the game out of reach.
Saturday’s loss marked the end of a stellar career for five Monument Mountain seniors.
“We talked about how much they gave to the program and what they did and their work ethic during the off season and what they do to prepare for the season,” Koldys said after emerging from the Spartans’ locker room. “We talked about what they accomplished as a group as far as the wins and losses over the last four years and going to places Monument’s never been before – winning a Western Mass championship for the first time in 46 years and the first time ever getting to the state championship game.
“It was just a great contribution to the program. I was lucky to be around them and lucky to have them. And not only did it make me a better coach, they made me a better person.”
One of this year’s graduating seniors said the contributions come from many people who were not even on the floor on Saturday afternoon.
“I think it’s a testament to the Housy Hoops program and Monument’s program,” McElroy said of the Spartans’ 62-9 record (.873 winning percentage) over the last three years. “Throughout the summer, especially with Pick Enroll with Patrick Hanavan in the summer program, in the AAU program that he’s put together, we play against each other all year round. Whether you’re in sixth grade playing against eighth-graders, whether you’re a freshman playing against seniors in the summer. College guys coming back like Dion [Brown], Noah Helmke, all these guys coming back and helping us get better.
“Competing against these guys who are so much better than you, so much bigger than you, so much stronger than you – they prepare you for these moments. And that’s why you see, year after year, we always are producing great talents out of Monument Mountain because people come back and they love our community so much that they want to help the next generation every single time.”