EASTHAMPTON — Jack Bacis drove the lane at the start of the third quarter, but the Easthampton forward’s shot was blocked inside by Wahconah forward Tom O’Connor.
A couple possessions later, Drew Caires plowed forward on a fast break and leaned into O’Connor, looking for some separation for a shot, but the junior blocked his shot.
Late in the game with Wahconah in command, Gabe Colenback was left alone on a fast break in the corner. He took a pass and lined up a 3-pointer, but O’Connor flew in at the last second and redirected his shot into the banners on the wall.
The length of O’Connor and the rest of Wahconah held the Eagles in check for a 58-29 victory in the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Boys Basketball Tournament quarterfinal round, Thursday.
“We knew about their length,” Easthampton coach Brian Miller said. “All we did all year was go inside, pound it inside and get to the rim on dribble drive, but every time we got there O’Connor just swatted it away.”
The fourth-seeded Eagles (14-7) saw their title defense end with a season-low 29 points.
“With their length, you can’t get into the paint, you can’t get off 3s because of their length,” Miller said. “I thought defensively, until the end, we played pretty well.”
The fifth-seeded Warriors (17-5) will face a team of similar size and length in No. 1 Sabis (17-4), next week in the semifinals at UMass’ Curry Hicks Cage.
“We played Sabis earlier in the year and they were probably taller and a little stronger than these kids,” Easthampton forward Ronan Mottor said. Wahconah “is really lanky, long kids.”
The Eagles trailed 13-8 after the first quarter, but Wahconah pulled away for a 27-12 halftime lead thanks to seven points from O’Connor and a deep 3 with the shot clock running down by Kevin Huban.
The Eagles fought back in the third. Trailing 31-14, Caires hit a step-back jumper, followed that with a 3 and followed that with a steal and fast-break layup to cut the deficit to 31-21.
Wahconah called timeout but that was as close as the Eagles got.
“They executed well on defense and blew up our plays,” Mottor said. “We tried to execute as well as we could, but it’s tough.”
The Warriors turned it up on offense, driving to the basket and getting to the line. They went on a 17-4 run before Miller called timeout with 2:36 left trailing 48-25.
The Eagles couldn’t do much on offense because of the Warriors’ length. Wahconah sealed them off inside, and when the Eagles kicked it out, they were quick enough to defend the perimeter.
“They are a really long team so they can get places really quick,” Mottor said. “Tom O’Connor is really long so he clogged the paint and didn’t make it easy to get in there.”
Caires led Easthampton with 11 points. It was the final game for seniors Nic Soucy, Sam Colenback, Bacis, Mottor and Caires.
“We fought hard and gave everything and the did the best we could,” Caires said.
Huban led the Warriors with 18 points. O’Connor had 13 and Tom Burris 11.
Mike Moran can be reached at mmoran@gazettenet.com. Follow on Twitter @mikemoranDHG.
Wahconah 58, Easthampton 29
Wahconah (17-5)
Salvini 1-0-2, Clayton 1-0-3, Huban 6-5-18, Gai 3-2-8, Burris 4-1-11, Bernardo 1-0-3, O’Connor 6-0-13. Totals: 22-8-58
Easthampton (14-7)
Soucy 2-0-4, G. Colenback 0-0-0, Mottor 2-0-5, Caires 4-2-11, S. Colenback 0-0-0, Morse 1-0-2, Bacis 1-1-3, Brown 2-0-4. Totals: 12-3-29
|
Wahconah |
13 |
14 |
8 |
23 |
—58 |
|
Easthampton |
8 |
4 |
9 |
8 |
—29 |
3-Pointers—Wahconah 6 (Clayton, Huban, Burris 2, Bernardo, O’Connor) Easthampton 2 (Mottor, Caires)