AMHERST — Anthony DeJesus had not played a varsity basketball game until the Northampton boys played Amherst Regional at the Curry Hicks Cage Friday night.
In a playoff atmosphere, DeJesus played like he had been there before, and helped the Blue Devils beat the Hurricanes 76-57 in the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off.
The win for Northampton (1-0, 1-0 Valley League) ended a seven-game losing streak to the Amherst.
“It took us a while to beat them,” DeJesus said. “We have everyone back. We have a good team.”
DeJesus scored 18 points, occasionally gestured to the Amherst fan section and guarded Amherst’s Kyle Murray.
“He (DeJesus) accepts any challenge,” Northampton coach Rey Harp said. “You are not going to stop Kyle Murray because he’s exceptional. But he had a good stretch in the third quarter.”
Diego Corrada-Mattei also spent time on Murray, who finished with 17 points. The duo did an effective job of limiting the guard.
Henry Doherty’s penetration sparked Northampton’s offense almost the entire game. At the outset, Doherty was aggressive and drew two early fouls on Murray.
“My goal is to penetrate,” Doherty said. “To get open looks for my teammates if I don’t have them myself.”
Doherty had 14 points, four rebounds and five assists.
“It was a big step,” Doherty said. “It’s showing where Northampton is going and how bright our future is going to be.”
Murray went to the bench for almost the entire first quarter, which disrupted the Hurricanes’ rotation.
“That set the tone early,” Amherst coach Jim Matuszko said. “We did a good job managing it in the first half.”
Late 3-pointers in the second quarter by Elliot Wills and Kieran Thurston helped the Blue Devils to a 42-34 lead at halftime.
Tate Rietkerk matched Murray with 17 points for Amherst (0-1, 0-1), but the Hurricanes did not get much production outside of them.
Murray stepped into a jumper on Amherst’s first possession, a sign that Murray will be aggressive this season.
“Most of the time he stayed within the offense,” Matuszko said. “He was fine. We just can’t give up 76 points. We need to get better on defense.”
The Blue Devils pulled away with some accurate free-throw shooting (12-for-14) in the fourth quarter.
Andy Grygorcewicz added 12 points for the Blue Devils. An up-and-under layup by Grygorcewicz with three minutes left gave Northampton a 66-55 lead.
Jaeden Johndrow scored 11 points for Northampton.
