North Adams’ Carson Osborne (14) weaves his way through the Georgetown defense for a left-handed shot attempt in action from the November 12 Foundation Game. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Late bucket gives G-Men a one-point win
North Adams’ Lane Martin, right, battles for a rebound with Georgetown’s Trevor Ellis during Saturday night’s Foundation Game in Georgetown. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams’ Jayce Rothwell fires off a corner three-point shot in action from the Devils’ Foundation Game match up with Georgetown on November 12. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It may not have counted as a regular season contest, but when bragging rights at the Copas Thanksgiving dinner are on the line, the excitement is evident. On Saturday, November 12, it was a match up of two “Copas” coaches as Coach Nathan Copas and his North Adams Green Devils traveled across county lines to face off with Coach Cory Copas and his Georgetown G-Men, two teams with very high expectations going into the 2022-23 season.
As mentioned, the Saturday night hoops battle was just an exhibition game, deemed a Foundation Game, to benefit the Coaches Community Fund, an even which has become an annual preseason event for both schools. The evening opened with a varsity girls game, easily won by North Adams, and a much-anticipated boys contest followed, played before a full house in Georgetown’s Brian Grant Gymnasium.
As play opened, it looked like the home team would have the upper hand as they jumped out to a quick 8-0 advantage. The three-point shot can quickly erase big deficits and that’s how the Devils flipped the scoreboard to 9-8 for them, getting a trio of three-point goals from Jayce Rothwell Cody Hesler and Bransyn Copas.
After Georgetown went back in front, Copas hit another trey and the first period closed with the G-Men holding a slim 14-12 advantage.
Georgetown extended their lead to 18-12 as the second quarter progressed, but a 7-0 North Adams run gave the lead back to the visitors. A three-pointer by the G-Men’s Carson Miles gave his team the lead, but the Devils answered with a triple from Carson Osborne, a two-point jumper from Copas and four successful free tosses from Rothwell to go up 28-22 with two minutes left in the first half.
The G-Men got three from the charity stripe of their own in the half’s final minute and a layup by Rothwell sent the Devils to the halftime break with a 30-27 lead, the expected close contest between a pair of talented basketball squads.
The G-Men opened the second half with a 5-0 spurt but baskets by Copas and Dillon Ragan put North Adams back in front and set the theme for a back-and-forth second half. After a bucket by Georgetown big man Carson Malott tied the score at 34, the Devils ripped off an 8-0 run, capped by a nice baseline drive and score by Hunter Brown, to take their biggest lead if the night at 42-34. The G-Men bounced right back and a three-pointer at the horn by Miles cut the North Adams lead to 42-39.
A old-fashioned three-point play from Copas began the fourth quarter and extended the Devils’ lead to six, but Georgetown’s Ryland Hayslip answered with his own “and one” to slice the North Adams lead in half. A later three-ball from the corner by Osborne gave the visitors a 50-44 lead with just over four minutes to play but the Devils ’ offense stalled and could only muster one basket over that final four minutes, a stick back score from Lane Martin with 3:05 left.
While the North Adams offense was sputtering thanks to some stepped up full court pressure from the home team, the G-Men began to assert themselves, getting a Malott three-pointer and a putback by Miles to pull within 52-51 with under a minuteto go. The Devils had the opportunity to salt the game away from the free throw line but twice missed the front end of the bonus, allowing Georgetown to have the ball and a timeout with 13.7 seconds remaining.
Out of the timeout, the G-Men ran a designed play and it worked to perfection, resulting in a go-ahead basket by Jaxson Marks with 7.2 ticks left on the clock. North Adams used a timeout and inbounded the ball to Bransyn Copas who brought it across and got off a contested jumper from deep on the right side, but it was off the mark and the G-Men escaped with a one-point 53-52 Foundation Game victory, just an exhibition but a good test for both teams as they look to the start of the regular season
Carson Miles led the G-Men with 17 points, joined in double figures by teammates Carson Malott with 12 and Aiden McGinnis with 10.
North Adams was paced by 17 points from Bransyn Copas, with Jayce Rothwell and Carson Osborne adding 11 apiece, a trio that could be lethal this season in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
The Devils will open their 2022-23 campaign on Friday, December 2 with a non-conference road trip to Chesapeake and will follow that up the next night with a non-conference home match up with Fairland.
BOX SCORE
North Adams
12 18 12 10 –52
Georgetown
14 13 12 14 – 53
North Adams (52): Rothwell k3 4-6 11, Hesler 2 0-1 5, Brown 1 0-0 2, Copas 6 3-3 17, Martin 2 0-0 4, Ragan 1 0-0 2, Osborne 4 0-1 11, Team 19 7-11 52
Georgetown (53): Hayslip 3 1-1 7, Klump 1 0-0 2, Miles 4 5-6 17, Marks 1 0-0 2, Galley 1 1-2 3, McGinnis 4 0-0 10, Malott 5 1-2 12, Team 19 8-11 53.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (7)- Rothwell 1, Hesler 1. Copas 2, Osborne 3
Georgetown (4)- Malott 1, McGinnis 2, Miles 1
