GRANBY — The Granby boys basketball team fell, 53-45, to Mount Everett Monday after a slow first quarter left the Rams playing catch-up.
Ryan Sheehan led Granby with 25 points, including 14 points in the first half. The senior was disappointed with his team’s lack of opening energy and how they underestimated the Eagles.
“We thought we were going to win, everybody did. I did too,” Sheehan said. “They just wanted to win more than us and they did, they played harder than us.”
Granby coach Tim Sheehan considers his team’s opening performance to be its “M.O.”
“We just seem to fall apart the first quarter and we can’t get anything started,” Tim Sheehan said. “When that happens, I think every shot feels pressured after that, and we’re not a good shooting team to begin with. Very frustrating.”
Granby trailed by as little as three points in the third quarter when the Rams turned on an intense, full-court man-to-man press that left the Eagles discombobulated.
Ryan Sheehan took it coast-to-coast with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth to make it 46-41. A steal from Kyle Murdock converted into another breakaway basket for Sheehan, pulling the Rams within 46-43.
The Eagles added a pair of free throws off a technical foul to take a 48-43 lead. The margin was too much for the Rams to overcome down the stretch.
“If you can’t put the ball in the basket you’re not going to win,” Tim Sheehan said. “It’s been our problem the last six games.”
Neither team recorded a field goal until the 4:20 mark in the first quarter. Once the basket was broken in, the Eagles went on a 12-2 run to end the quarter with a 13-3 lead.
The Rams rallied in the second. A second Ryan Sheehan 3-pointer pulled Granby within 18-15. Aggressive play by the Eagles had Granby in the bonus early and Joshua Hart sunk a pair of free throws right before the half as the Rams trailed 24-20.
“I think we played the same way the whole game,” Ryan Sheehan said. “We ended up just playing lazy.”