Cardoso's Late Bucket Lifts Generals to Win at UMass
AMHERST, Mass. -- Kyle Cardoso drove the lane and laid in the winning basket in the closing seconds Sunday to give the Pittsfield boys basketball team a 54-52 win over East Longmeadow in the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off at at UMass-Amherst.
Cardoso hit three 3-pointers, scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds en route to earning most valuable player honors for the Generals, who came back from a six-point second-half deficit and took a 10-point lead in the fourth-quarter only to see the Spartans rally back to tie it with 16 seconds on the clock.
"This was huge," Cardoso said. "This brings us to 2-0, and, instead, it would have brought us to 1-1. And being 2-0 against two very talented, strong teams really helps us."
Freddy Conyers, Noah Kane-Smalls and Quincy Abellie each scored seven points, and Cam Zerbato added six in a balanced attack for Pittsfield.
Cardoso hit a pair of 3s in a 13-2 third quarter run that gave Pittsfield a 39-30 lead.
The Generals led by eight points, 48-40, when Zerbato scored in transition with an assist from Conyers with just 2 minutes, 10 seconds on the clock.
But East Longmeadow mounted a 12-4 run during which Pittsfield shot 2-for-8 at the free throw line, tying the game and setting the stage for Cardoso's dramatics.
"It's not so much the free throws," Pittsfield coach Jerome Edgerton said. "Honestly, it's in-the-game situatons. It's one thing on my pad. We cover a lot early in the season, but we haven't covered late-game situations, late game shot clock situations, end of game shot clock situations.
"Free throws, we shoot every day. But it's more so just the totality of the ending of the game. We've got to execute better."
Pittsfield executed well early on, especially defensively, and took a 13-7 lead on a Kane-Smalls 3-pointer late in the first quarter.
East Longmeadow bounced back in the second and built a 23-20 lead at the break.
Spartan big man Brandon McCloud hit a 3-pointer and scored in the post in the second on his way to a 13-point, 12-rebound afternoon.
Edgerton said he was happy with the way Pittsfield's post players, primarily Zerbato and Abellie, defended McCloud.
"We're undersized and we may not jump or be as athletic, but we want to be physical at the point of attack," Edgerton said. "I felt like we boxed out. I felt like when he did get the ball, we played straight up well.
"So I can't be happier with Camden Zerbato. I can't be happier with Quincy Abellie. Elias Robinson came off the bench and was huge for us. And, of course, the rest of the boys did what they do, too."
Jack Serafini hit a triple to open the second half for East Longmeadow, giving the Spartans a 26-20 lead.
Bri'Awn Thompson put back an offensive rebound at the other end, and Conyers scored four straight points in transition for the Generals to tie it.
McCloud got a putback to give East Longmeadow its last lead of the game at 28-26. A Cardoso 3 at the other end started a 13-2 run for Pittsfield to end the quarter and make it a nine-point game.
Both teams traded makes for most of the fourth quarter before Zerbato's basket to make it 48-40.
East Longmeadow's Noah Enrique-Davis (16 points) scored five points to help his team outscore Pittsfield, 12-2, in the last 1:30. Billy Delaney put back an offensive rebound, got to the foul line and made his free throw with 16 seconds left to tie it, 52-52.
After a timeout, Kane-Smalls brought the ball up over the time line for Pittsfield and got it to Cardoso on the right wing. The senior guard drove around his man, split two defenders in the lane and finished with his left hand. East Longmeadow did not have enough time left to do more than inbound the ball before the horn sounded.
"We drew the play up for Kyle," Edgerton said. "We have a play set that we run for him. ... We work on those moves every day -- turning, going downhill, finishing, left and right and hand. And they let him get to his strong hand, and game over."
Photos from this game to come.