BELCHERTOWN – Nearly every single player on the Orioles bench scored at least a point in the Belchertown boys basketball team’s 78-29 rout over Monson on Monday night.
The Orioles were clicking both offensively and defensively, shutting down any chances the Mustangs could muster and getting clean looks to fall exactly where they wanted to.
Belchertown head coach Matt Stenuis had no shortage of players to highlight in the postgame presser.
“Offensively, we pretty much got everything we want,” said Stenuis of his team’s play. “We got three shooters that all shot the ball really well, in Nate (Sajdak), Tyler McDonald and Will Hill coming off the bench. Joey Bianco had 10, mostly at the line. He’s our biggest guy, and that’s what we want.”
Sajdak, McDonald and Hill finished with 14, 9, and 9 points, respectively.
Though the Orioles did walk away with the win, it came at a cost – sixth man and defensive specialist Kiernan Corish, moments after a colossal block that brought parts of the crowd to their feet, landed awkwardly on a rebound attempt and had to be helped off the court. It’s unclear how long the injury may keep him off the hardwood.
“That’s too soon to tell. Right now – I don’t know,” said Stenuis, grimacing a bit. “He’s my sixth man. He’s a defensive stopper, he goes for rebounds as you saw. But you know, we’ll see.”
Though Monson got the first bucket of the game, that was the first and only lead it saw for the remainder of the contest. The Orioles raced out to a 22-8 lead in the first quarter, thanks in large part to the eight fouls that the Mustangs committed that sent player after player to the free throw line; six of Bianco’s 10 points were free throws.
That said, there were moments in the game that rubbed Stenuis the wrong way. During a break in the third quarter, the coaching staff told the team to stay focused and limit sloppy plays, as they would face teams later in the season that could take advantage of it. There were also some flashy plays that the Orioles tried to attempt that didn’t always work, something that didn’t escape Stenuis’s notice.
“I thought when we were focused and we ran plays the way we’re supposed to, and we passed and cut, we did really well,” said Stenuis. “When we got up, we got too comfortable. We tried to do things that are outside of what we want to do. We’ll take the win, but turnovers in that third quarter are really unacceptable.”
How many turnovers were there in the third quarter?
“Too many,” said Stenuis emphatically. “Too many.”
The Orioles finished the game with 13 turnovers, and you can blame several things for it like the high-scoring contest, or how early it still is in the season. But there was just as much that Belchertown did right in this game, and that was true no matter who was on the floor. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, not a single one of the home team’s starters still touched the floor, but everyone who was called upon stepped up and filled whatever role they were asked to.
“Evan White, his job is to rebound and get the fast break going. And he’s always going to draw someone bigger and physical,” Stenuis said. “His role – go get the ball. Joey Bianco… for us, he’s a big man. Had a couple of fantastic, what we’ll call them, big man moves. His footwork was excellent.”
It’s early still, and Stenuis mentioned that there are things that the team hasn’t yet used in games that will surely come up as the season goes on. But what they hope to be known for, and will be relying on most heavily, is their defense, which was on full display against Monson (though they didn’t deploy their press).
“Defensively, that’s gonna be kind of our calling card this year, is that whoever comes in, we can ramp and we can pick it up, we can pick up the pace,” said Stenuis.