GRANBY – For a brief period of time Monday night, the air was sucked out of the gym.
Fifth-seeded Pioneer had opened the Western Mass. Class D quarterfinal with a 7-0 lead over host No. 4 Granby. In the middle of the dead silence that overtook the building, Granby head coach Dylan Dubuc urgently called a timeout. Like clockwork, the team corrected itself — ending the first quarter with a 15-11 advantage. That run was the catalyst for what wound up as a tidy 55-41 victory, sending the Rams through to the sectional semifinals.
Such a shift in momentum did not require a strategic change so much as an alteration in the team’s mindset.
“I said, ‘forget about the last two minutes, let’s start playing our ball,’ basically. That was the message,” said Dubuc on the timeout.
This change in the team’s mindset allowed for Granby to play to its strengths, which led to the course correction.
“[What I saw change on the court was] defensive stops,” said Granby senior guard Brandon Wishart. “All our offense starts with defense. We get defense, we get out in transition, we get easy buckets — filling the lanes, easy layups.”
The alteration in the game’s direction started with a Carter White bucket under the hoop to make it 7-2. Trailing 9-2, the Rams responded with a three-pointer by Tyler Sudbury. The Panthers answered once again with a two-pointer to make it 11-5; however, those were the visitors’ last points for a long time.
Wishart completed a three-point play on an and-one. Then, Collin Kennedy scored a two-pointer to bring them within one, and that was followed by a Ryan Gaughan 3 to give Granby its first lead. The last score of the period came from Rams junior big man Robert L’Abbee on an assist from Wishart.
The senior guard donning No. 0 was a key part of the team’s first quarter recovery. He implemented tight backcourt defense, ran the team’s offense with efficiency, and passed the ball with perfection.
“He’s doing a hell of a job — just finding guys open, getting us into our sets, taking care of the ball, making the correct pass, and just really seeing the game well,” Dubuc said on Wishart.
Wishart knows the talent level of his team, and intends to utilize that the best way possible.
“I’m always looking to get my teammates open — share the rock,” said Wishart. “We got great shooters on this team — great post players, too. So everyone can score.”
After trailing 11-5, the Rams rattled off 14 consecutive points, and ended up going on a 20-2 run to give themselves a 27-13 lead. Their lead did not get below double-digits for the remainder of the game.
Scoring came from a variety of Granby players on Monday night. The leading scorer, L’Abbee was an unlikely sort, as he was not one of the team’s starting five. He scored 15 points, which was a career-high for the low post player.
Right behind him was Gaughan, who gathered 13 points, and following him was L’Abbee’s fellow big man, White, with nine points.
The 14-point win was a quality addition to one of Granby’s strongest seasons ever, and they will look to continue that in the Class D semifinal round on Wednesday with a game against either No. 1 Baystate Academy or No. 8 Lee. Those teams play in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday night.