Three was the magic number for Smith Voc’s Domeniq Sanchez on Friday night.
The senior on the Vikings’ boys basketball team needed three points to join the 1,000-point club in their Tri-County North contest against Mohawk Trail and Smith Voc fans who made the trip to Buckland were rewarded right away.
Sanchez sank two free throws soon after opening tipoff to sit at 999 career points, then, fittingly, swished a 3-pointer about two minutes into regulation to surpass the quadruple-figure threshold.
“It feels good to hit it,” Sanchez said. “With my teammates and my coach believing in me and all my other coaches too, from AAU, Suburban, even going down to little league too. I’m just so thankful that they even got me to this point.
“[Coach Akara] Holder and Coach [Luis] Bonilla, both of them just helping me get better at my game and then my teammates obviously pushing me,” Sanchez added.
The Vikings seemed to feed off the energy of their star player earning the milestone as they cruised to a 81-38 win against the Warriors, their highest point total of the season.
On top of the career achievement, Sanchez led all players in points on Friday, finishing the blowout with 21 points.
“Coming into this game, I was just focusing, not even on the 1K milestone, I was more just being a player like I always am, an all-around player,” Sanchez said. “Passing, scoring, just looking for my teammates.”
Friday’s milestone was a long time coming for Smith Voc’s top dog, who dons No. 1. Sanchez slowly turned himself from a depth option into the Vikings’ most vital player over the course of his active four-year varsity tenure.
Sanchez didn’t see much time on the floor as a freshman, accumulating less than 100 total points, since Smith Voc boasted six seniors during that 2022-23 season.
It wasn’t until Sanchez’s junior year in which the once far-fetched idea of hitting 1,000 points became much more realistic.
“My sophomore year, that’s when I had 300-something points, which was a dramatic change from my freshman year,” Sanchez said. “Then going into my junior year where I got 500-something, then that’s [when] all my teammates were like ‘yeah dude, 1K is on the board, you can definitely go get that,'” Sanchez said.
Sanchez’s memorable night led to the Vikings snapping their three-game losing streak as well, who now hold a 3-4 record this season.
Monument Mtn 66, South Hadley 63 (OT) — The Tigers let a first-half lead slip away in the non-league defeat.
South Hadley was ahead 37-28 after two quarters, but the Spartans chipped away at their deficit during the second half to force the extra period, where they outscored the Tigers, 9-6, to snatch the ‘W.’
Tim Loughrey totaled 24 points to lead South Hadley, with Noah Hambley right behind him, securing a 23-point night.
Northampton 78, SICS 76 — The Blue Devils survived a late charge from the Bulldogs to grab their second consecutive win.
Brayden Nichols-Staples (29 points) and Eli Reid (20 points) were clutch in the fourth quarter for Northampton, tallying 19 combined points in the final frame.
Girls basketball
Smith Voc 34, Athol 25 — Mallory Radwich and Sofia Zina combined for 16 points in the Vikings victory.
Mady Desrosiers was the Bears’ top scorer with eight points.
Amherst 26, Granby 22 — The Hurricanes halted their losing streak, taking their first win in four games.
Aliya Morales-Fernandez paced the Amherst offense with nine points.
The Rams were led by Kalli White’s 11 points.
West Springfield 49, Holyoke 24 — The Purple Knights dropped their third straight in the home loss.
Julianna Pirela contributed nine points as Holyoke’s high scorer.
Southwick 56, Belchertown 39 — The Orioles were stifled at home against the Rams.
Kina Roy recorded 11 points as Belchertown’s top point-getter, while Aubrey Klingensmith also reached double-digit points with a 10-point outing.
Frontier 51, Pope Francis 38 — The Redhawks rolled to their seventh straight win in Springfield. Skyler Steele got things cooking in the first quarter with four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 17 points.
Whitney Campbell had a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Newly minted 1,000-point scorer Addie Harrington did a little bit of everything with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Harper Modestow played set up, dishing out five assists to go with six points for Frontier (7-1, 5-0 Suburban).
Longmeadow 69, South Hadley 62 — Kate Phillips was spectacular for the Tigers, totaling 31 points, in their fifth defeat in a row.
Olivia Athas (20 points) was also sharp from the floor for South Hadley.
Swimming
Amherst 101, Longmeadow 79 (girls) — Amherst got strong performances from Finnley Chambers and Rowan Albertson in the pool as the duo each won multiple events.
Chambers grabbed first in the 200 free in 2:06.93 and the 500 free in 5:38.12, while Albertson earned the top spot in the 50 free in 25.87 seconds and 100 free in 57.03 seconds.
Audrey Spiridopoulos (100 backstroke in 1:10.74) and Teagen Demers (200 IM in 2:25.21) also snagged first-place finishes.
Longmeadow 86, Amherst 74 (boys) — Tallon Demers won a couple of individual events for the ‘Canes in the loss.
Demers swam to first in the 200 freestyle (2:01.13) and 100 free (54.90).
Easthampton 72, Hampden Charter 9, Renaissance 8 — The Eagles eased past the competition in a tri-meet win.
Kayleigh Hogan won the 100 butterfly (1:22.87) and 100 backstroke (1:22.96) as Easthampton’s top individual swimmer.
Late Thursday Results
Boys basketball
Belchertown 67, West Springfield 40 — Brice Letendre starred for the Orioles with 31 points in the Suburban South battle.
Belchertown jumped out to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter and never trailed on the way to its fifth win of the season.
Shea McLean added 12 points for the Orioles.