High schools: Cristiano Casolari beats buzzer, South Hadley stays alive in quest for postseason

Cristiano Casolari’s lone basket proved to be the game’s most important.

With eight seconds left in overtime Thursday, Hunter Carey drove the lane but missed a layup. Casolari grabbed the rebound and put back a game-winner at the buzzer, as the South Hadley boys basketball team beat Palmer, 57-55, at home.

The win moved the Tigers (5-12, 4-2 Bi-County East) into a tie for second place in the league. A win at Hampshire on Friday would clinch a spot in the postseason.

Hunter Borowski canned six 3s and scored a career-high 25 points. Carey added 17 points.

Hampshire Regional 95, Ludlow 54 — The Raiders (4-13, 2-4 Bi-County East) exploded in Westhampton to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Hampshire can still finish in second place in the league, but it is fighting with South Hadley (5-13, 4-2) and Palmer (9-10, 4-3). The Raiders host South Hadley on Friday and visit Palmer on Monday. South Hadley visits Easthampton (12-6, 6-0) on Tuesday.

Multiple league runners-up qualify for the postseason provided there is a single league champion.

Dominik Lewinski and Nick Pellegrini each had double-doubles to pace Hampshire. Pellegrini had 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Lewinski had 15 points and 16 rebounds.

Justin Forest had 20 points, Ian Dunlap added 12 points and Julian Greve had eight points and nine rebounds.

Pioneer Regional 65, Belchertown 54 — Jordan Lanoue scored 17 points, but the Orioles lost at home. Zach Wrona added nine points, while James Lawless and Corey Lanoue had seven points each for Belchertown (7-12, 1-6 Hampshire South).

Hockey

West Springfield 3, Easthampton 1 — Jake Batchelder found the net from Jake Delisle to tie the game in the second period.

The Terriers put away two in the third to seal the game.

Tyler Cortis made 21 saves for the Eagles (10-7-1).

South Hadley 9, Drury 5 — Michael Mazza (two goals, three assists) and Ryan Tucker (three goals, two assists) tallied five points each in a home win.

Matthew Brunelle added a goal and three assists.

Cam Pete had two assists, Sean Doherty and Joe Cigal contributed a goal and an assist each.

Ben Watkins found the net, while Will Ortyl, Thenis Tsilibocos and Aidan Sullivan had assists.

Anthony Cigal saved 12 shots for South Hadley (10-5-2).

Prep alpine skiing

The Deerfield Academy girls alpine ski team won the New England Prep School Athletic Council Class A championship at Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire.

Deerfield scored 10 points on slalom and 19 on giant slalom to win with 29 points. St. Paul’s was second with 33 points (17 S, 16 GS).

The Deerfield boys were second (25 S, 31 GS) to Gould Academy (26 S, 19 GS).

Deerfield Academy’s Kikka Giudici won slalom with a combined time of 55.62 seconds. She was second in giant slalom with a combined time of 78.41 seconds.

Tait Kline led the Deerfield boys. He was sixth on both slalom (57.92) and giant slalom (76.55).

Boys basketball

Hampshire Regional 95,
Ludlow 54

Ludlow (0-17, 0-7 Bi-County East)

Teixeira 1-2-4, Alves 6-5-19, Rivera 2-2-8, Fortune 2-0-4, Grimes 2-1-6, Hitchcock 2-0-5, Carvalho 1-0-2, Guyon 1-0-2, Hurst 1-1-4. Totals: 18-11-54

Hampshire (4-13, 2-4)

Kraus 1-0-2, Zarniecki 2-1-5, Lewinski 5-5-15, Sarna-McCarthy 1-2-4, Dunlap 4-1-12, Pellegrini 8-2-22, Forest 4-9-20, S. Gaskins 1-1-3, Boyle 2-0-4, Greve 3-2-8, O’Connell 0-0-0. Totals: 31-21-95

3-Pointers—Ludlow 7 (Alves 2, Rivera 2, Grimes, Hitchcock, Hurst) Hampshire 10 (Dunlap 3, Pellgrini 4, Forest 3)

South Hadley 57, Palmer 55 (OT)

Palmer (9-10, 4-3 Bi-County East)

Pardo 3-0-8, Placanico 2-0-5, Venne 0-1-1, Lombardi 3-0-6, Bigos 3-0-8, Tenczar 6-0-14, J. Letendre 1-2-5, N. Letendre 4-0-8. Totals 22-14-55

South Hadley (5-12, 4-2)

Braithwaite 1-0-2, Borowski 9-2-25, Marion 2-0-6, Carey 6-5-17, Casolari 1-0-2, Dawson 1-0-2, Cottingham 1-0-3, Johnson 0-0-0. Totals 21-7-57

3-Pointers—Palmer 8 (Pardo 2, Placanico, Bigos 2, Tenczar 2, J. Letendre), South Hadley 9 (Borowski 6, Marion 2, Cottingham)

Pioneer Regional 65,
Belchertown 54

Pioneer Regional (15-3, 6-0 Hampshire South)

Emond 8-2-19, Hubbard 4-0-10, Cote 5-9-20, Underwood 1-0-2, Z. Fox 4-0-8, Dobosz 1-0-2, Emberly 2-0-4. Totals 25-11-65

Belchertown (7-12, 1-6)

Schiffer 0-0-0, Burton 1-0-2, Bechthold 1-0-2, Wrona 4-1-9, Lawless 3-0-7, Wright 2-0-4, C. Lanoue 3-0-7, Raines 3-0-6, J. Lanoue 5-6-17. Totals 22-7-54

3-Pointers—Pioneer Regional 5 (Emond, Hubbard 2, Cote 2), Belchertown 3 (Lawless, C. Lanoue, J. Lanoue)