NORTHAMPTON – Kelvin Perez spent most of his senior night on the bench with foul trouble.
Northampton’s senior captain delivered in the most important moment, though, on the other side of a foul. He sank two free throws with 2 minutes, 53 seconds left that gave the Blue Devils the lead for good in a 60-57 win over Holyoke on Wednesday. They gave Northampton a 54-53 lead that seemed expanses away earlier in the game.
“We’ve put ourselves in holes at different times over the course of the year. We stopped digging at each other and found a way to dig with each other,” Northampton coach Rey Harp said. “Our guys can get to the next play pretty well.”
Holyoke scored the game’s first 11 points. The Blue Devils trailed 19 with 5 minutes until halftime and rallied all the way back. They shaved the deficit to 11 by halftime, and Silas Coles nailed a 3 with 6:19 remaining in the third to bring the Blue Devils within single digits, 37-29.
“We’ve all got each other’s backs. I love this team,” Coles said. “When we were down 11-0, I was 100 percent sure we were going to win that game.”
Holyoke’s Jordan King (20 points) dropped in a floater to push it back to 40-30. The Knights also led 42-32, but the Blue Devils ripped off an 11-0 run. Coles, who scored a co-team-high 16 points, brought Hamp within 42-41 with a leaner at the 36 second mark, then he gave the Blue Devils a 43-42 lead with seven second to go in the third.
The Purple Knights pushed back. Davi Diaz added 20 points, and Shawn Rivera scored nine. King put Holyoke up 53-52 with a 3 at 1:33.
Then Perez (nine points) sank two free throws. Coles followed with another pair to put Hamp up two possessions, and Perez added another layup. He also hit a go-ahead 3 with 4:46 remaining.
“I had a feeling it was going in. I knew it was going in,” Perez said. “Big time shot.”
Jaeden Rivera also had 16 points for Northampton and hustled all over the floor in Northampton’s press.
King gave Holyoke a late change with a layup that made it 58-57 with 28 seconds to go.
The Blue Devils defense held for two possessions as Coles drained two free throws to seal it.
“We made sure no 3s. If they get a layup, they get a layup,” Perez said. “If you have to foul, you have to foul.”
Northampton (11-5, 4-2 Valley) won for the seventh time in the past eight games.
“We thrive in the type of chaos we create,” Harp said. “We have a lot of guys who took turns in giving us the energy we needed.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.