It was not bullfighting but basketball in the North Adams High School gym on Tuesday night as Manchester’s Connor Darnell tries to find some way around the defense of North Adams’ Cody Hesler. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Copas, Rothwell combine for 36 in North Adams win
North Adams’ Breestin Schweickart gets off a jumper over the Manchester defense in action from Tuesday night’s SHAC battle at NAHS, won by the host Green Devils, 74-48. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After sweeping a pair of non-conference outing to begin their 2022-23 season, Coach Nathan Copas and his North Adams Green Devils varsity boys basketball squad were back on their home court on Tuesday, December 6, facing off with the Manchester Greyhounds in their first Southern Hills Athletic Conference outing. The Greyhounds came in to Tuesday night with a 2-1 mark, their only loss being to Fayetteville in SHAC action. All that set up a mid-week match up between two county rivals in front of a large crowd of spectators.
Though the Greyhounds put up a battle for two quarters, the Green Devils used runs of 12-0 and 9-0 in the second half to pull away and stay unbeaten in the young season with a 74-48 victory.
A fast-paced first quarter began with a Connor Darnell three-pointer giving the Hounds an early 3-2 lead as the two sided traded scores until a Dillon Ragan for North Adams three-point play tied the game at 7. After a Drew Kennedy layup put Manchester back in front, the Devils went on an 8-0 run that began with a Carson Osborne trey and included a steal by Jayce Rothwell that resulted in a basket “and one”. Another Rothwell bucket made it 17-9 before the run was broken by a three-ball from Manchester’s Aaron Lucas. A putback by Cody Hesler and a late score from Breestin Schweickart gave the home team a 21-12 advantage after one period.
The Devils added to that margin as the second stanza began, a Schweickart three-pointer and an easy bucket in transition from Hesler gave North Adams a double digit lead at 29-16. The Hounds broke that North Adams run with buckets from Darnell and Lucas, but the home side kept up the pressure and scored the game’s next five on another Osborne three and a drive and sire from Bransyn Copas, making it 34-20.
The Greyhounds made a mini-run in the final three minutes of the first half, outscoring the Devils 8-3 on the strength of a Darnell triple, a pair of Braylan Roberts free throws, and a late score from Elijah Crabtree. That spurt cut the North Adams lead back to sings digits and left the Hounds within striking distance, trailing 37-28 at the halftime break.
The second half began with a long distance artillery barrage as the two dies combined for a quarter of three-point baskets, three of those belonging to the Greyhounds- Kennedy and then back to back from the red-hot Darnell and quickly the North Adams lead had been sliced to 42-37, but that was as close as the visitors were going to get.
After that Manchester flurry, the Devils regrouped and reeled off 12 straight to, for all intents and purposes, put that game out of reach. The 12-0 run happened over a four-minute span and was mainly due to a rash of Manchester turnovers that resulted in easy buckets for the North Adams squad. A basket by Rothwell, off a turnover, gave the Devils a 54-37 lead and they never looked back, leading 56-41 after three quarters.
The final period began with Copas converting an old-fashioned three-point play, Hunter Brown hitting two from the charity stripe, Hesler and Osborne converting turnovers into scores and a 9-0 run, ending in a 65-41 North Adams lead. Another Copas three-point play made it 70-43 as the parade of substitutions began from both benches. After Darnell’s fifth three-point goal for the Hounds, the Devils closed out with a basket from Alex Shupert and free throws from Konnor Rogers, capping off the 74-48 win.
“Sometimes we get a little stagnant and we haven’t been shooting the ball really well but tonight I thought we did a good job of finding the gaps and then passing to the open man,” said Coach Copas after the win. “I thought we were a little lazy on defense the first half, but they knocked down some shots. In the second half we did a better job of shutting some things down and getting some stuff out of transition.”
After a slow first half, North Adams’ Bransyn Copas had a big second half to lead the Devils with 21 points. Copas was joined in double figures by teammates Jayce Rothwell and Carson Osborne, who each scored 15. North Adams was also an impressive 13 for 14 from the free throw line in the win.
Connor Darnell led the Greyhound with a season-high 20 points, that included his five three-point buckets. Aaron Lucas and Drew Kennedy scored 7 apiece for the visitors.
The preceding JV game was a thriller as Coach Joey Darnell and his Manchester squad remained unbeaten with a 35-34 victory.
With a quirk in the schedule giving neither team games on Friday night, the two teams will be back in action on Saturday, December 10. The Greyhounds will travel to Miami Valley Christian Academy in non-conference play while the Devils will be back at home facing Lynchburg in a second consecutive SHAC battle.
Green Devils 74
Greyhounds 48
Manchester
12 16 13 7 —48
North Adams
21 16 19 18 —74
Manchester (48): Roberts 1 2-2 4, Darnell 7 1-2 20, Bayless 1 0-0 2, Kennedy 3 0-0 7, Horner 1 0-0 2, Crabtree 3 0-0 6, Lucas 2 2-2 7, Team 18 5-6 48.
N. Adams (74): Rothwell 7 1-1 15, Hesler 3 0-0 6, Brown 0 2-2 2, Copas 7 6-6 21, Osborne 6 0-0 15, Rogers 0 2-2 2, Schweickart 3 0-0 7, Shupert 1 0-0 2, Ragan 1 2-3 4, Team 28 13-14 74.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (7)- Darnell 5, Kennedy 1, Lucas 1
N. Adams (5)- Copas 1, Osborne 3, Schweickart 1
