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By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — I received a pair of texts about five minutes apart a half hour after the UMass men’s basketball team practically gave Saint Louis a crucial Atlantic 10 win on Tuesday night in the Mullins Center.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — The rules were rather simple to Noah Lee, who stepped onto Jack Leaman Court inside the Mullins Center at halftime of Wednesday night’s women’s basketball game between the host Minutewomen and St. Bonaventure. Make four baskets – a layup, free throw, 3-pointer and half-court shot – and he’d be $10,000 richer.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — Amalia Guerra is a perfectionist. She won’t stop working until she feels she has honed her craft. And even when the day comes where the Northampton girls swimming senior feels like she’s accomplished perfection, she’ll continue to find something to improve on.

By GARRETT COTE

Another week of the high school basketball season is nearly over, which leaves just one more until the Western Massachusetts tournaments begin. This is edition No. 5 of the Gazette’s weekly high school basketball notebook – the penultimate prior to postseason play. The MIAA released its latest power rankings for boys and girls basketball on Tuesday morning, so we’ll take another look at those as Hampshire County teams continue to jockey for a playoff spot or better seeding.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — It’s become almost normal at this point. In recent memory, any time the UMass men’s basketball team starts to play well and garners attention from the fan base, it seemingly finds a way to let them down. Such was the case on Tuesday night in front of a season-high 3,745 fans at Mullins Center as the Minutemen fell 73-71 to Saint Louis with third place in the Atlantic 10 on the line.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The seventh meet of the PVIAC indoor track season took place at Smith College on Sunday, and five Hampshire County schools were in action across the two meets.

By GARRETT COTE

While there are still a handful of fans who haven’t fully bought into the current landscape of college athletics, there’s no question the world of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals and the transfer portal certainly has its benefits.

By GARRETT COTE

Back when Dick Garber was the head coach of the UMass men’s lacrosse team (spanning 36 years from the late 1950s to 1990), the Minutemen were slated to play Harvard out in Cambridge. One of the referees scheduled to officiate that game was Northampton resident Vin LoBello, who had a great relationship with Garber over the course of their respective careers.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Make it two in a row for the UMass women’s basketball team, as the Minutewomen used a 17-2 first-quarter run to sail ahead of George Washington en route to a 71-54 win at Mullins Center on Wednesday night.

By GARRETT COTE

Installment No. 4 of the weekly high school basketball notebook is upon us, and to be honest I’m excited for this one – the last edition in the month of January. We’re that much closer to postseason basketball, so we will take a look at where each team (boys and girls) in Hampshire County currently stands in the Western Mass. and state tournament rankings in their respective classes/divisions.

By GARRETT COTE

GRANBY — Any time the Easthampton boys basketball team put together a strong stretch of play on Tuesday night, Granby always seemed to have an answer. The Rams were aggressive, precise and relentless for all 32 minutes of their contest with the Eagles, and a 38-point second half propelled them to a 68-44 win on their home floor.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — After starting Atlantic 10 play 0-2 and having struggled throughout its non-conference slate, it looked as if the UMass men’s basketball team was headed back toward the bottom half of the league following a promising 20-win season a year ago.

By GARRETT COTE

SOUTH HADLEY — With South Hadley’s Jack Loughrey sidelined tending to a lower leg injury in the fourth quarter, the Frontier boys basketball team clawed its way back into the game after trailing by 17 points entering the frame. The Redhawks went on a 12-3 run – Max Millette scoring 10 of those points – to make it 59-51 midway through.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — The sixth meet of the PVIAC indoor track season took place at Smith College on Sunday, and six Hampshire County schools were in action across the two meets.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — For the first time since his introductory press conference back on Dec. 6, UMass football head coach Joe Harasymiak spoke with the media on Friday afternoon at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center.

By GARRETT COTE

It has been quite an adventurous week for former UMass quarterback Liam Coen. On Wednesday evening, it was reported that Coen, who served as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator during the 2024 season, would be returning to the organization as the highest-paid assistant coach in the National Football League – turning down a head-coaching offer from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the process.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — For the early portion of the first half, anxious murmurs spread through the Mullins Center as the UMass men’s basketball team racked up as many turnovers (6) as points nearly 10 minutes into the game. The 2,772 fans that showed up were wondering if the Minutemen would too. But as he did on Sunday against La Salle, Minutemen sophomore Jaylen Curry changed the trajectory of Wednesday night’s contest with George Washington.

By GARRETT COTE

It’s that time of the week again, as Wednesday evening means Hampshire County high school basketball notebook No. 3 is here. February is on the horizon, which means the eight (boys and girls combined) Western Massachusetts tournaments are as well. Teams across the valley are hoping to play their best basketball of the season over the next several weeks to be in the best position possible to compete for a sectional crown.

By GARRETT COTE

BELCHERTOWN — The visiting Hampshire girls basketball team continued to hang around as it trailed Belchertown by 10 in the third quarter – looking to make a push to really put pressure on the Orioles.

By GARRETT COTE

AMHERST — Down by three with under 15 seconds remaining in the UMass men’s basketball team’s game at Fordham on Jan. 15, the Minutemen needed a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime after being up as many as a dozen earlier in the second half.