
An airborne Jayce Rothwell looks for an open North Adams teammate as the Devils battled Fairfield in SHAC action on January 24. Rothwell tallied 14 points in a 52-48 win. (Photo by Tim Daulton)
North Adams escapes Fairfield 52-48
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
If you are Coach Austin McCormick and his North Adams Green Devils, you know that the target is square in the middle of your chest, especially with conference opponents. After going unbeaten in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference last season, the Devils came into last Friday night’s home match up with Fairfield perfect on SHAC play this season at 8-0. The rivalry with the Lions has become more intense the past few seasons with some very close and hard-fought contests and Friday’s battle was more of the same.
Before a standing room only crowd, the Devils and Lions battled it out for 32 minutes, the home team grabbing a double digit lead late in the first half only to see Fairfield rally to tie the game early in the final period. North Adams is an experienced team, starting five seniors, and that experience usually results in the composure necessary to win close games. It did on Friday as the Devils made the plays down the stretch and escaped with their perfect SHAC record intact, downing the hungry Lions by a final count of 52-48. (The game ended with the scoreboard reading 51-48 but a later review of the game tape showed a mistake that made the actual final 52-48.)
“Our kids keep battling and working hard and that’s all you can ask for,” Coach McCormick said in his postgame radio spot. “We have to find ways to win and that’s what we did. Fairfield made a great run at us in the fourth quarter but we kept our composure and finished the job. The SHAC is a deep league and that will only help in tournament play because you’re battle-tested every night.”
On Friday night, the Devils burst out of the gate early with the game’s first five points, a three-pointer from Konnor Rogers on their first possession and a later steal and score from the red-hot Breestin Schweickart. The Lions answered with five straight of their own before a drive and score from Rogers put the home side back on top. After Fairfield tied the game again on a basket by Brody Smith, the Devils went up again on a Schweickart three-ball. Later in the quarter, Schweickart cashed in on an “and one” and then hit another trey in the final seconds to leave his team in front 16-11 after one.
North Adams retained its lead as the second period progressed, stretching it to 23-17 on a pair of Jayce Rothwell free throws (one of which did not register on the scoreboard, hence the mistake with the final). Back to back steals and scores from Rothwell and Schweickart extended the lead to double digits, but the Lions ended the first half with a buzzer beating three from Chase Newman to pull within 27-20 at the break.
Early in the third stanza, the Lions pulled within three with a basket by Quentin McIntosh but a Connor Young three-pointer pushed the North Adams lead back to six. A jumper by Rothwell followed up by a Young layup pushed the lead back to 10, then the Lions clawed back with three-point buckets from Griffin Friend and Logan McIntosh. With 38 seconds left in the third quarter a pair of free throws from freshman Carson Davis kept the home side up by double digits at 43-32.
Momentum can be a fickle thing in the game of basketball and change in the blink of an eye and that was quite evident in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. The Lions flipped the script by opening the final frame on a 10-0 run, getting three-pointers from Smith and Caleb Barrera that tied the game on the board, but in reality the Devils still had a one-point advantage. The North Adams pressure then produced consecutive Fairfield turnovers which were converted to baskets by Rothwell and Carson Osborne to make it 47-42.
The Lions got another trey from Smith to cut the gap to two, boosted to three by a Rothwell free toss. When they got the ball back after a defensive stop, the Devils ran the clock before Davis was fouled and hit one of two from the line to give North Adams 49-45 lead. Fairfield missed two shots on their next possession and with 15.7 seconds to play, Schweickart was fouled and also hit one of two from the stripe. The Lions missed a three on their ensuing trip and they were forced to foul again and this time Rothwell drained both attempts from the stripe to make it 52-45. The Lions got a three from Smith in the final seconds but it was the Devils who took home the “W” and moved to 11-4 overall, 9-0 in conference play.
After scoring 26 and 30 in his previous two outings, Breestin Schweickart again led the Devils in scoring with 19 points and rebounds with 6. Jayce Rothwell turned in his usual solid game from the point guard position, scoring 14 points and leading the team with 5 assists.
“Good teams find a way and some nights you have to grind it out in a low-scoring game,” said Coach McCormick. “Jayce is our leader on and off the floor, he doesn’t back away from any challenge. We had multiple guys give us great efforts tonight and that’s how you beat good teams.”
Fairfield was paced by 15 points from Brody Smith, with Logan McIntosh adding 11. The Lions fell to 10-4 overall but retained their top spot in the small school division, sporting now a 7-2 conference mark.
The Devils, who still sit at #1 in the RPI rankings, were back on their home floor on Tuesday night, hosting Batavia in non-conference play, and then will be back in conference action on Friday night with another rivalry game at Peebles. Coach McCormick’s squad close out the three-game week on Saturday with a trip to Western Latham.
Fairfield
11 9 12 16 —48
North Adams
16 11 15 9 —52
Fairfield (48): Friend 3 0-0 7, Barrera 2 0-2 5, Smith 6 0-0 15, L. McIntosh 5 0-0 11, Newman 1 0-0 3, Q. McIntosh 3 1-1 7, Team 20 1-3 48.
N. Adams (52): Rothwell 4 6-8 14, Young 3 0-0 7, Rogers 2 0-0 5, Osborne 2 0-0 4, Schweickart 6 3-5 19, Davis 0 3-4 3, Team 17 12-17 52.
three-Point Goals:
Fairfield (7): Friend 1, Barrera 1, Smith 3, L. McIntosh 1, Newman 1
N. Adams (3)- Young 1, Rogers 1, Schweickart 1