HATFIELD — For nearly the entirety of the game, No. 28 Smith Academy led No. 37 Westfield Tech in their first round matchup of the MIAA Division 5 boys basketball tournament. There were some ebbs and flows, but the Falcons always managed to stay in front of the Tigers.
With just seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Westfield Tech fought back, going on a 6-0 run that started in the waning seconds of the third quarter to tie the game up at 33 and make the home crowd sweat it out a bit.
“When they start a quarter hot, it’s always a little nerve-wracking,” Smith Academy head coach Matt Zerneri said. “You just hope that everything we practice (we can) execute. Basketball’s a game of runs, so they went on a little run and I was just hoping we could match it one-on-one or exceed it, and we were able to do that.”
The Falcons outscored the Tigers 11-2 in the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter to earn the 44-35 win and a spot in the Round of 32. Five of those 11 points came from the free throw line, which Smith Academy was well acquainted with by the game’s end; 17 of the Falcons’ 44 points came from the free throw line, and the home team had 28 free throw chances total on 20 Westfield Tech fouls.
Though their free throw points gave them a significant boost, their shooting percentage of 60.7 percent from the line is something that Zerneri wants to work on before they play their next round matchup against No. 5 Hoosac Valley on Friday.
Overall, Zerneri was happy with his team’s play, especially in absence of their point guard Riley Intrator. Intrator went down with a concussion in the team’s Western Mass. quarterfinal game against Hopkins Academy, which will sideline him for the remainder of the Falcons’ postseason run. But while he wasn’t on the court on Tuesday night, he was on the bench for Smith, contributing in whatever way he could.
“I think he raised the spirit of the team, they’re happy he’s there,” Zerneri said. “He knows the game, so he’s helping everybody out and he’s an extra coach on the bench for us now. He was directing some of the guys who were playing out of position and he’s doing a good job.”
The Falcons distributed the ball fairly evenly, with all five of their starters scoring at least seven points. Forward Aiden Pedersen started the home team out strong, going on a 6-0 in the first half of the first quarter. Westfield’s De’Carlo Lincoln countered back with two buckets of his own to make it 6-4 before Smith went on another 6-0 run to make it 12-4.
Pedersen’s play was one of the high points for the Falcons all night. He was covered pretty heavily by Westfield after his opening run, but that opened up a number of his teammates to take more open looks.
“Aiden really stepped up, he had 20 rebounds tonight, so I was pretty happy with that. We’ve waited for that all year out of them, so this was a good time to do it,” Zerneri said. “He really started the game off well, scoring six points in a row, so that really set us off on a good note.”
The Falcons led 14-10 after the first period, and maintained that momentum in the second, heading into halftime up 27-21. Though Smith’s lead didn’t reach double-digits at any point in the game, the advantage seemed somewhat comfortable for the Falcons – Westfield stayed within range, but Smith always was able to answer back whenever called upon.
The only time that changed was early in the fourth quarter, when the Tigers made a last-ditch effort to comeback and tied the game up at 33. Smith allowed a 6-0 run, and a few turnovers in the latter part of the third and early fourth allowed Westfield to get back in the game. Though the Falcons were still able to secure the win with a couple of buckets by Griffin Smiarowski and Wyatt Jeffress in addition to the team’s free throws, they want to tighten up their game so they don’t replicate the giveaways against Hoosac.
“It’s definitely going to be something we’re going to look at in practice. Those turnovers definitely can’t happen in the second round of the playoffs,” Smiarowski said. “We’ll have to make better passes, better plays, smarter plays.”