North Adams senior guard Bransyn Copas, left, returned to the court and led the Green Devils with 19 points in their 57-41 win at Lynchburg on February 9. (Photo by Danielle Jodrey)

North Adams senior guard Bransyn Copas, left, returned to the court and led the Green Devils with 19 points in their 57-41 win at Lynchburg on February 9. (Photo by Danielle Jodrey)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Teams set goals at the beginning of every season. Coach Nathan Copas and his North Adams Green Devils are two-thirds of the way home in reaching their preseason wishes. In late December, the Devils captured the title in the final Adams County Holiday Classic, meaning that next on the list was going after a Southern Hills Athletic Conference big school crown.

Whether Coach Copas and his troops expected what happened in conference play is unknown, but with their confidence on the court, the end result was not a surprise. With a 57-41 win on the road at Lynchburg on Friday, February 9, the Devils completed a perfect 13-0 conference slate, earning yet another Gold Ball trophy for the NAHS trophy case, the first one in boys basketball since 2009.

“I’m really happy for our guys,” said Coach Copas. “Winning the SHAC was one of our goals at the beginning of the year and it’s always good to achieve your goals. This was the first Gold Ball since 2009 so those don’t come around every day. Although we are happy about winning the Gold Ball, our focus now is on getting healthy and seeing if we can reach our next goal, to make some noise in the tournament.”

The Devils have been plagued by nagging injuries in recent weeks, with standouts Bransyn Copas and Breestin Schweickart missing time, but both were back on the court on Friday night in Lynchburg, where the North Adams boys found themselves trailing 13-11 after one quarter of action, then bouncing back in the second frame to grab a 27-22 halftime advantage.

With Copas and Jayce Rothwell combining for 13 points in the third period, the Devils extended their lead to double digits after three, 44-34. Just eight minutes from conference perfection, the Devils clinched the Gold Ball with Carson Osborne scoring seven in the final quarter as North Adams took win #13 in conference play and improved to 17-3 overall.

Copas led the North Adams scoring parade with 19 points, joined in double figures by Rothwell with 13 and Osborne with 11 as the Devils stretched their winning streak to 15 games.

Lynchburg was paced by 19 points from Cody Bell and 16 from Denver Clinton.

Before pursuing their tournament dreams, the Green Devils have two non-conference contests remaining in the regular season, both of which should be good tests. On Tuesday, February 13 the Copas family coaching battle was renewed as the Devils hosted the Georgetown G-Men and then on Monday, February 19, they will host the #1 RPI team in Division IV, the South Webster Jeeps, who stood at 16-2 at press time.

North Adams

11 16 17 13 —57

Lynchburg

13 9 12 7 —41

N. Adams (57): Rothwell 6 0-0 13, Hesler 1 1-2 3, Young 3 0-0 6, Copas 7 3-4 19, Osborne 5 1-2 11, Schweickart 2 1-2 5, Team 24 6-10 57.

Lynchburg (41): C. Bell 7 1-1 19, A. Bell 3 0-0 6, Clinton 7 2-2 16, Team 17 3-3 41.

Three-Point Goals:

N. Adams (3)- Rothwell 1, Copas 2

Lynchburg (4)- C. Bell 4