SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Frontier boys basketball team continued its strong start to the season, defending its home court in a 55-46 victory over South Hadley on Monday night.
Despite facing a 13-8 deficit at the end of the first quarter, the Redhawks came out of the break ready to go, upping their intensity and quickly taking the lead.
Throughout the next three quarters, the game remained close, with Frontier making the shots and getting the stops that mattered down the stretch.
“Sometimes, for wins, you just have to grind it out,” Redhawks head coach Josh Morse said. “It wasn’t a perfect game. [The Tigers] made it very difficult on us, but we were able to just kind of grind through and play the way we wanted to play, which was being great defensively and rebounding.”
Defense was a focus for Frontier all night long, switching things up over the course of the night to keep South Hadley guessing.
The common theme was keeping ball-handlers uncomfortable, with the Redhawks constant pressure helping to create turnovers and difficult shots.
“I think when we went to our full-court press, that kind of gets us going,” Morse said. “Defense fuels our offense for us, and we’re always going to be that type of team.”
Frontier got out on the break quick, finding easy layups as well as open shooters streaking to open space.
Max Millette led the Redhawks in scoring on the night, hitting eight shots and getting to the free-throw line en route to 23 points.
The senior facilitated the offense as well, finding open teammates and handling the Tigers’ aggressiveness on defense. Millette’s success helped Frontier continue to build its lead, eventually leading to the win.
“We’re better shooting the ball now because we’re spacing the floor better, and we’re finding the open player,” Morse said. “We’re better passers, which creates better shooters for us. That’s the difference. I think we could always shoot it, we just weren’t getting the looks, and we weren’t being disciplined in our spacing.”
Rowan Modestow was the main benefactor of Millette’s playmaking, hitting two 3-pointers in what proved to be a 19-point night.
For South Hadley, finding open looks was difficult, with the team struggling to find consistency from the field. Tim Loughrey found success getting to the rim, tallying a game-high 25 points, but the Redhawks’ defense proved to be too much in the end.
With the loss, the Tigers (3-3) will look to bounce back when they travel to Westfield on Thursday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m.
Frontier (7-1) will look to continue its hot start when it hosts Greenfield on Thursday, January 8, at 7:30 p.m.
“Every day is just grinding and finding a way to get one percent better every day,” Morse said. But more importantly, is keeping our culture. Our culture is what drives our wins.”
Amherst 75, SICS 47 — The Hurricanes went off during the second half to cruise past the Bulldogs.
Tied 25-25 at halftime, Amherst dropped 29 points in the third, then tacked on 21 more during the fourth frame to ease to the victory.
Mitchell Carey collected 26 points while Gael Buford (18 points) and Sam Woodruff (17 points) also eclipsed double figures for the Hurricanes.
McCann Tech 49, Smith Voc 41 — A furious finish from the Vikings in this one wasn’t enough as they dropped to 2-3 after the defeat.
Smith Voc fell behind 35-18 at halftime, but shots started to fall in the second half to make Monday’s road game competitive.
Domeniq Sanchez knocked down a team-high 14 points for the Vikings, while Nolan Ingram concluded with 10 points.
Athol 35, Smith Academy 33 — Thirteen points from Rowan Jeffress nearly pushed the Falcons past the Bears.
Jeffress was the game’s top scorer, who sank five of his buckets from the free-throw line.
Smith Academy has now lost three straight.
Duggan 61, Granby 52 — Zavien Fernandez and Brodie Funk played well for the Rams in the home loss.
Fernandez managed 19 points for Granby while Funk added 14 of his own as its leaders on offense.
Easthampton 52, Hampden Charter 44 — The Eagles soared to their fifth consecutive win, thanks to strong games from Rae Mathurin, Patrick Larson and Jay Brown.
Easthampton’s trio combined for nearly 40 points, with Mathurin’s 15 leading the charge. Brown (11) and Larson (10) supported the Eagles offense which seems to be firing on all cylinders.
Frontier’s Alex Ellis, left, goes up for a layup during the first half of the high school basketball game against South Hadley in South Deerfield on Monday. RYAN AMES/Gazette Staff 
South Hadley’s Tim Loughrey, right, drives to the basket during the first half of the high school basketball game against Frontier in South Deerfield on Monday. RYAN AMES/Gazette Staff 
South Hadley’s Isiah James, right, dribbles around pressure during the first half of the high school basketball game against Frontier in South Deerfield on Monday. RYAN AMES/Gazette Staff
Girls basketball
Lenox 47, Smith Voc 29 — Offense was hard to come by for the Vikings in the loss to the Millionaires.
Smith Voc scored more than 10 points in just one quarter (fourth) in its first loss of the season (4-1).
Isabelle Letourneau led the Vikings with 12 points.
Smith Academy 48, Mohawk 45 — The Falcons got the better of the Warriors during Monday’s Franklin South clash.
Smith Academy led after each and every quarter to improve to 2-3 on the season.
Vivian Higuera (19 points) and Emma Tisdell (10 points) were the Falcons’ top performers on the court.
Swimming
Easthampton 108, Renaissance 7 (girls) — The Eagles won every race during Monday’s dual-meet on the road.
Karolina Robak (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke) won multiple individual events for Easthampton.
Amherst 98, Westfield 45 (girls) — Three Hurricanes swimmers achieved state meet or sectional meet qualifying times in the victory.
Rowan Albertson’s 200 free time of two minutes, 8.47 seconds was good enough for a state meet spot, while Emory Albertson joined in during the 100 breaststroke with a qualifying time of 1:16.40.
Caprial Dibartolomeo’s time of 1:08.26 in the 100 butterfly was fast enough for a sectional meet slot.
Amherst 101, Westfield 75 — Jackson Tease swam to a pair of first-place finishes to lead the ‘Canes. Tease won the 200 IM in 2:40.66 and the 500 free in 6:04.87.
Tease also made the cut for the Fast Chance meet, later this season.
Lewin Halasz secured a spot in the sectional meet in the 200 free, finishing in 2:04.55
Weekend Results
Wrestling
At the Minickiello Wrestling Tournament in Keene, N.H., Frontier wrestlers Jocelyn Antes, Thomas Bagdon and Sean Eich-Richardson all snatched top-three finishes.
Antes lost in the 120-pound division finals to claim second place. Antes pinned all three of her previous opponents to reach the final match.
Bagdon (second place) and Eich-Richardson (third place) each performed well for the Redhawks in their respective weight divisions.
South Hadley 45, Hampshire 35 — The Tigers took the victory on the mat against the Raiders during Saturday’s dual meet.
Ryan Lachance (132), Jasiel Ramos (175) and Roberto Melendez (285) all won via pins for South Hadley while Joseph Quatcker (215) won by decision (15-11).
Hampshire’s Jax Williams (120), Robert Zononi (126) and Finn Dewitt (144) earned pins while Eli Willard won via technical fall for the Raiders.
Hockey
West Springfield 2, Amherst 1 — The Hurricanes dropped its second straight in the non-league loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday at Olympia Rink.
Tied 1-1 after two periods of play, West Springfield scored the deciding goal midway through the third to sink Amherst to 3-4-1 overall.
Hurricanes goalie Jason Kim made 47 saves in the defeat. Nate Desbien scored for Amherst.
Boys basketball
St. Mary’s (Westfield) 45, Gateway 37 — The Gators losing streak stretched to three consecutive following Saturday’s loss.
Jacob Maynard’s 14 points paced Gateway, which now sits at 1-3 on the season.
Girls basketball
Leominster 63, Northampton 45 — The battle of the Blue Devils went to the team from the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed.
Emme Calkins led Northampton with 20 points while Anna Oravec was next with 11.
Saturday’s contest was close until the fourth quarter, when Leominster outscored Northampton 24-8 in the final eight minutes of regulation.
Leominster led 39-37 heading into the fourth.