SPRINGFIELD – Time was not on Granby’s side Friday night, but for a few tantalizing moments midway through the fourth quarter, the boys Division 5 state quarterfinal looked ripe for the taking.
The Rams fell down by 17 points to Baystate Academy early in the fourth, but then held the Bulls scoreless for almost 3½ minutes while mounting a steady 8-0 run of their own. A couple of Granby shots spun out during that stretch to prevent an ever bigger run. With 3:31 to play, Ryan Gaughan made both ends of a one-and-one to pull Granby to within 58-49, but that’s when the air came out of the Rams’ tires.
Baystate closed the game on a 12-0 run, getting a bucket and six free throws from Dion Byrd Jr. and a lob dunk from Byrd to Rodney Mayfield, to win it going away, 70-49, before a raucous crowd at Springfield’s High School of Science & Technology.
“That’s a really good ball club over there,” said Rams coach Dylan Dubuc. “For us to be able to click on offense for 32 minutes, it’s a tough ask. We weren’t able to do it long enough or sustain it. We tried to get it one at a time and ease our way back in. It got to nine, I think we had a couple of good looks, a couple of rim-outs. That’s a testament to our guys. We’re a senior-led team, and we’re gonna keep fighting.”
Friday’s loss put the wraps on an 18-5 campaign, Granby’s most successful season since 2005, when the Rams captured the Western Mass. Division 3 title and reached the state semifinals.
Gaughan led Granby with 13 points. Nate Breault scored 10, Tyler Sudsbury added nine and Robert L’Abbee finished with eight.
For second-seeded Baystate (17-5), Tyrese Christie led everyone with 20 points. Byrd was right behind with 17, Travis Jordan contributed 13 and Mayfield scored 11. The Bulls will have to wait to learn the identity of their state semifinal opponent, after the quarterfinal between Drury and Maynard was postponed to Sunday.
Byrd threw in three 3-pointers inside the game’s first four minutes and Christie added a trey as Baystate led by eight, 18-10, after one. Jerrell Casey hit a free throw followed by a three to make it 22-10 and the Bulls kept the lead in the low double figures until late in the half. Carter White and Gaughan had late baskets to pull the Rams to within 32-26, then Christie finished the half with a layup in traffic to keep the lead at eight, 34-26, at the break.
L’Abbee’s layup and a right-wing three by Breault early in the third made it 36-31, but Baystate scored the next eight for a 44-31 lead and prompted a Granby timeout with 5:38 to go. Breault made it a 10-point game at 49-39 with a trey inside the final minute, but Jordan hit a three of his own before the horn to put the Bulls up 52-39.
The lead went to 58-41 when Mayfield slammed a putback with 5:56 left, and Granby began to climb back slowly from there. Breault made a pair at the line, Gaughan and Brandon Wishart scored in transition off steals, and Gaughan converted his late one-and-one to make it 58-49 at the 3:31 mark. The Rams would get no closer.
“It’s hard right now to really appreciate all the success we had this year,” said Dubuc. “I was telling them in there, when’s the last time we had 18 wins as a program, got to play in a state tournament, and who penciled us in at the beginning of the year to be one of the last eight teams standing? There’s a lot of cool things that happened, and these guys are a really special group. They’re really close and our leaders were phenomenal.”