North Adams’ Caleb Rothwell (11) and Peebles’ Zane Porter battle hard for a loose ball in action from Tuesday night’s SHAC match up, won ny Rothwell and the Devils, 58-40. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams handles Peebles 58-40 in SHAC action
Peebles’ Cory Reed elevated high in the lane to get off this jumper in the Indians’ 58-40 loss at North Adams on February. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
There were a lot of topics on the minds of basketball fans who poured into North Adams High School on Tuesday, February 1- the Cincinnati Bengals trip to the Super Bowl, the impending predicted winter storm, Senior Night, and of course, the anticipated rematch on the hardwood between the host Green Devils and the Peebles Indians.
The two teams had met earlier this season in the championship game of the Holiday Classic and that contest was a thriller, not being decided until the final seconds in a 51-47 North Adams win. Most of the fans who filled the NAHS gymnasium on Tuesday were expecting more of the same, but they got just the opposite.
After a tight one and low-scoring first half, the Green Devils took control after the break, using a pressing defense and some timely scoring to pull away and hand the Indians a 58-40 defeat.
“We obviously wanted to make more shots than we did to allow to get in our pressure,” said North Adams head coach Nathan Copas in his postgame radio interview. “The pressure thing is something a little bit new for us so hopefully we will continue to improve on that.”
Fans on hand for Tuesday night’s affair witnessed a first quarter that was a not-so-good lesson on how not to put the basketball through the net, likely a combination of strong defensive efforts and the fact that Coach Copas and Peebles head coach Josh Arey are so familiar with what the other was going to do. Empty possession after empty possession saw the game knotted at just 4 apiece after nearly seven minutes of play. The lead changed hands four times in the final 1:32 of the opening period, finally ending with a nice spin move and score by the Devils’ Bransyn Copas that gave his team an 8-7 advantage after one.
A pair of Alan McCoy free throws for Peebles flipped the scoreboard again as the second quarter began, but the Devils answered with a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to take a lead they never gave away. A three-point play by Avery Anderson and a pretty drive and score with the left hand by Copas put the home team up 15-9. A later steal and score by Copas made it 19-11 North Adams and the lead stretched to 24-15 when Cameron Campbell drained a three-ball from deep in the corner. The Tribe got a basket from Zane Porter and a Cory Reed free throw to cut their halftime deficit to 24-18.
As the third quarter got under way, it looked like the Indians were going to go on the warpath, getting four points from McCoy to make it a two-point game two minutes into the second half. The first points of the second half for the Devils came at the 5:45 mark when Kamden Buttelwerth nailed a three-pointer off the wing that seemed to be the spark that turned on the North Adams switch. Moments later, Copas found a Red Sea- type hole in the Peebles defense and score on an uncontested layup and then the super soph nailed a trey to give his team their biggest lead to that point at 34-26.
The Indians responded with a basket and one from Zane Knechtly, but 6 of the final eight points of the third stanza belonged to the home side, as a bucket by Jayce Rothwell gave the Devils a 40-31 lead headed to the fourth quarter.
That Rothwell bucket was the beginning of a 9-0 North Adams run that for all intents and purposes was the decisive stretch of the game. The Devils scored on their first three possessions of the final period and their lead later ballooned to 47-31. A basket by Mason Sims and a Reed free throw gave momentary life to the Tribe but another Campbell three-pointer extinguished that flame and the Devils weren’t seriously challenged from that point forward.
“When we moved the ball a little bit, we got some easy stuff, some straight line drives to the rim,” said Coach Copas. “We did a better job of being more patient and looking to attack on offense in the second half. We can’t have just good possessions and bad minutes, we’ve go to have good minutes and maybe some bad possessions. That’s the formula that it takes to win at the tournament level against good teams. When you have a bad possession it shows your maturity as a team how quickly you overcome that.”
With under two minutes to play, both coaches emptied their benches and the final points of a big North Adams win came from the Indians’ Chris Oldfield, but when all was said and done it was the home team and their faithful on the celebrating side.
The Devils (9-8, 6-4) were led by 21 points from Bransyn Copas, with Cameron Campbell also reaching double figures with 10. Caleb Rothwell played a solid game on both ends and contributed 9 points on the offensive side.
Peebles (7-9, 5-5) had a pair of player in double figures, led by Alan McCoy’s 16 with Cory Reed adding 11.
All things weather permitting, the Devils were slated to be right back in action on Wednesday with a non-conference trip to Portsmouth High School, then were scheduled to host West Union on Friday, February 4 and Minford on the next night.
The Indians were to host Manchester on Friday night and then travel to Green on Saturday evening.
BOX SCORE
Peebles
7 11 13 9 —40
North Adams
8 16 16 18 —58
Peebles (40): Sims 2 0-0 4, Day 0 0-2 0, McCoy 6 4-5 16, Porter 2 0-1 4, Reed 2 7-11 11, Oldfield 1 0-0 2, Knechtly 1 1-3 3, Team 14 12-22 40.
N. Adams (58): J. Rothwell 2 0-0 4, Copas 9 2-4 21, C. Rothwell 2 5-10 9, Osborne 1 0-0 2, Anderson 3 1-1 7, Campbell 3 2-2 10, Buttelwerth 2 0-0 5, Team 16 9-17 58.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (4)- Campbell 2, Copas 1, Buttelwerth 1
