PITTSFIELD -- The Drury boys' basketball team has been in a deep hole since late December.
That hole proved to just be a little too deep on Wednesday. Pittsfield locked up the North Division crown and dispatched the Blue Devils from playoff contention in the season finale, 70-55.
"We made a good run," Drury coach Jack Racette said. "I don't think people thought we would be where we are at right now. We had a tough back-to-back, and we couldn't regroup [for Wednesday]."
Early in the season the Blue Devils were 1-6, before clawing their way back. They kept their season alive with wins over Lee on Saturday and over Wahconah on Tuesday. They never reached .500 on the year.
Drury held a 46-45 lead heading into the fourth quarter Wednesday, but the positives ended there. Pittsfield's Amancho Adopo scored 11 fourth-quarter points on his way to a game-high 29 points.
Evan Lanoue scored 10 of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, as well. The Generals outscored Drury 25-9 in the final frame.
"In the second half, we just pushed the ball," Adopo said. "That's always the key to our game. We just push the ball, pass, pass, see the hoop and get the layup."
As Pittsfield pushed the ball up the court, the Blue Devils just ran out of steam. Wednesday's game was the fourth game in six days for Drury.
Nolan Bird led his team with 14 points, but only five of those came in the second half. Isiah Pantoja had 13
"[Drury] was playing for their life and came out with some intensity," Pittsfield coach Steve Ray said. "In their defense, I think they were just running out of gas at the end."
Adopo was held out of the starting lineup after showing up late. He entered the game about three minutes in and provided an immediate spark.
Racette could see his team fading at the end of the first half. The Blue Devils built a 4-0 lead to start the game, but let Pittsfield back in by missing layups and uncontested shots. Drury had an 18-10 lead at the end of the first, but Adopo and the rest of the Generals began to chip away.
"I was worried at half time, we were getting beat on the boards," Racette said. "It was 30-30 and we left a ton of points out there. We were just running out of gas. We don't have a lot of fire power and we're not a deep team. You could just see our legs going."
Pantoja was the only member of the Blue Devils to score multiple times in either the third or fourth quarter.
Pittsfield also had a double digit performance from Ty Discoe -- not including the two points he scored for Drury late in the fourth quarter. He finished with 13 points for the North Champions.
Both teams struggled to score points in the first half. Both squads missed easy shots and struggled to gain offensive rebounds.
"[Pittsfield] didn't have a dog fight [Tuesday night against Wahconah], so [the misses] really hurt us a lot more," Racette said. "We can't afford to leave points out there because we tend to go on stretches where we don't score at all."
To reach Sam Monroe, email
smonroe@thetranscript.com.
On Twitter: @NAT_DigitalSam
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