North Adams junior Konnor Rogers came off the bench to fire in a quartet of three-point goals in the Devils’ 77-42 won over Lynchburg on January 5. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Four in double figures as North Adams stays perfect in SHAC
North Adams junior Connor Young goes up and under between a pair of Lynchburg defenders as the Devils raced to an impressive 35-point win at home over Lynchburg. Young came off the bench to score 8 to aid the North Adams cause. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
North Adams junior Breestin Schweickart hits a fade away jumper in the lane, part of his 13-point effort in the Devils SHAC win over Lynchburg on January 5. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
North Adams boys basketball coach Nathan Copas stresses to his team every day to “do it the right way”. In last Friday night’s Southern Hills Athletic Conference match up on their home court with the Lynchburg Mustangs, the Devils couldn’t have done thing in any better way. When the North Adams machine is in gear and hitting on all cylinders, they are nearly impossible to stop, something the visiting Mustangs found out quickly.
The Devils came out of the gate on Friday night with high-energy on all fronts, running up and down the court at will and racing up 27 points in the first quarter. The outcome of the contest was in no doubt beyond that point as the Devils improved to 5-0 in conference play with a 77-42 rout of the stunned Mustangs.
Friday night’s contest may have been over within the first two possessions of a wire-to-wire North Adams romp. A Bransyn Copas three-pointer followed by a Breestin Schweickart stickback made it 5-0 for the home team. Lynchburg got their first basket from Cairen Goings, but that only preceded the Devils going up 9-2 on buckets by Carson Osborne and Jayce Rothwell. The North Adams offense can come at opponents from many different directions and after a second Mustangs score, the Devils ran off seven straight as their full court pressure quickly took its tool on the visitors.
Now on top 16-6, the North Adams offense went beyond the arc for back to back threes from Connor Young and Konnor Rogers, the first two players off the bench for Coach Copas, and two of the 11 three-pointers the home team drilled on Friday. That put the Devils on top 22-6 and when Rogers dialed the long distance operator once again, the home team had a commanding 27-8 advantage after on quarter of fast-paced action.
The Mustangs got an early second period three from Cody Bell but that was only a temporary plug as the North Adams offense exploded again for a 12-0 run, half of those points coming from the senior Copas, and giving the home team an insurmountable 41-11 lead midway through the second stanza. The Mustangs did manage a 6-2 run of their own late in the period, but in one of those “you know things are going your way” moments, Rogers banked home his third three-pointer of the half, sending the Devils to the break in front 46-17.
The main storyline of the third quarter was the Mustangs doing what they could on offense to prevent the North Adams lead from growing to 35 points, thereby enforcing the OHSAA running clock rule, something you don’t see often in high school boys contests. A pair of Copas free throws at the 6:07 mark of the third quarter made it 52-21 and when Schweickart drained a three-ball, the lead grew to 32 for the home side.
The Mustangs got a two-point goal from Bell but the Devils answered with an Osborne triple to go up 58-25, precariously close the the running clock, but the ‘Stangs got back to back scores from Goings and Denver Clinton , followed by a Copas drive and score and then a later steal and score from Cody Hesler. The visitors could stave off the running clock no longer when Hesler tossed in a trey at the third quarter horn to push the lead out to 66-31.
With the clock on the constant move, the final period flew by rapidly, but not before the Devils opened with baskets on their first two possessions from Rogers, one inside the arc and one from outside, his fourth three-ball of the night. Lynchburg responded with a 7-0 run of their own that included a Jay Cordrey, but North Adams answered with Young repeating the Rogers performance of baskets from both sides of the arc to make it 76-38. The Mustangs got two buckets in the final minute and the last point of a dominant evening for the Devils came on a Preston Call free throw as the home team closed out a big Friday night conference win.
North Adams improved to 6-3 on the season, 6-0 in conference plays, and as they normally do, had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures, led by 16 points from Bransyn Copas. Next up was Konnor Rogers with his season-high of 14 with Breestin Schweickart adding 13 and Carson Osborne 12. Connor Young scored 8 for a Devils’ offense that only turned the ball over three times in the entire game while their defense forced 19 by the Mustangs.
Lynchburg fell to 4-6 overall (2-4 SHAC), but to their credit, bounced back the next morning at the Chad Hodson Classic in Fairfield to knock off Paint Valley 38-35 and pull within a game of the .500 mark.
Coach Copas and his troops were back in action on Tuesday, January 9 with a non-conference trip to Batavia and then will be off until Saturday when they close out the annual Coach Young Classic by hosting the Chesapeake Panthers.
Lynchburg
8 9 14 11 —42
North Adams
27 19 20 11 —77
Lynchburg (42): Cordrey 1 0-0 3, West 1 0-0 2, C. Bell 2 0-0 5, A. Bell 2 0-0 4, Niehaus 3 0-0 6, Clinton 5 0-0 10, Goings 4 0-0 8, Baker 2 0-0 4, Team 20 0-0 42.
N. Adams (77): Rothwell 3 0-0 6, Hesler 3 0-0 7, Young 3 0-0 8, Call 0 1-2 1, Copas 6 3-4 16, Rogers 5 0-0 14, Osborne 4 2-2 12, Schweickart 6 0-0 13, Team 30 6-8 77.
Three-Point Goals:
Lynchburg (2)- Cordrey 1, C. Bell 1
N. Adams (11)- Hesler 1, Young 2, Copas 1, Rogers 4, Osborne 2, Schweickart 1
