HAMILTON — Defense travels.
That’s the plan for the Hamilton-Wenham boys basketball team when loading up the bus for the 87 mile trip to North Brookfield High for Friday’s Division 4 first round bout against David Prouty. The Generals head West on the heels of one of their best defensive performances of the season, a thorough 60-33 preliminary round win over Hampshire on their home floor Monday night.
“We always stress defense, defense, defense,” said senior captain Joe Coughlin. “Our 3-2 matchup zone was incredible. We were talking on both ends of the floor and we executed very well.”
Hampshire, the 42nd seed in a 48 team draw, was held to six points in both the first and fourth quarters. The Raiders (10-11) looked like a pretty good outside shooting team on film, so the No. 23 Generals (12-9) drew up a defense that would make the long range game very difficult.
It worked exceptionally well: Hampshire didn’t make a single 3-point field goal in the contest (0-for-6) and shot 38 percent for the game.
“We locked down the shooters with man defense. The plan was face guard, don’t allow any passes and win possessions,” said senior captain Chris Collins, who had a game-high 22 points to go with 20 rebounds.
That dominance on the glass helped the Hamilton defense limit the Raiders to one shot on most trips up the floor. The defense was somewhat physical and at times H-W flirted with foul trouble, but the visitors missed a dozen free throws (5-for-17).
“We knew Hampshire could shoot it, so the plan was to overplay everything, don’t give help and force them to put the ball on the ground,” said H-W coach Mike DiMarino. “We felt like if we could keep them off the 3-point line, we had a good chance to win.”
There were five lead changes in the opening minutes before the hosts seized control. Collins, who had half his rebounds on the offensive glass and had a number of put-backs for second chance points, controlled play inside and helped his team build a seven point lead after one quarter.
H-W had its own struggles from 3-point land in the first half, shooting 1-for-9. The Generals were patient with their shot selection, though, shooting 59 percent on 2-point field goals. Some inside buckets from sophomores Caden Schrock (13 total points) and Alex Menegoni helped H-W build an 11-point lead, but Hampshire made a mini-run to cut that to seven by the break, however.
“We were up seven, but we felt like our best basketball was still in front of us,” said DiMarino.
Junior captain A.B. Labell helped unlock the run H-W needed to put the game out of reach. He scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, canning a couple of triples in the fourth quarter to punctuate a 20-6 run.
“The second half is usually our half and we wanted to finish strong,” said Collins. “We hit some shots and played really well together.”
Jack Wresien had eight points to lead Hampshire, which cut the lead to six at 33-27 late in the third. A conventional three-point play by junior Liam O’Bannon ignited an H-W run that pushed the lead to 13 by the end of the quarter (40-27).
The Generals then began the fourth quarter with a 9-0 spurt to extend their lead to 20 and never looked back on their way to their first state playoff triumph since the 2020 season.
“Coach always tell us it’s survive and advance. The team that executes better will advance,” said Coughlin. “These games are all about momentum. We wanted to come out strong and come out fast because when we’re playing fast, we’re tough to beat.”
Coughlin and Collins are the lone seniors on the H-W roster and each played in excess of 32 minutes in what was likely their final home game. Sophomores like Schrock and Menegoni also played more than 30 minutes and the Generals got a nice lift from Cole Scanlon and O’Bannon in terms of bench work.
Now, Hamilton-Wenham turns its attention to the No. 10 seed David Prouty. At 17-3, they’re a formidable foe but the Generals know if they bring their defense and a high compete level it’ll be a battle Friday night.
After not making the state playoffs in 2022 or ’23, they’re grateful to have earned the opportunity.
“The kids deserve all the credit in the world. They executed really well down the stretch and locked in defensively,” said DiMarino.
“This is our 92nd day together since the start of practice … and we’re really looking forward to day 93.”
Hamilton-Wenham 60, Hampshire 33
Division 4 preliminary round
at Hamilton-Wenham Regional HS
Hampshire;6;12;9;6;33
Hamilton-Wenham;13;12;15;20;60
Individual scoring
Hampshire: Kolodziej 4-0-8, Pierce 2-2-6, Pond 2-0-4, Golosinski 0-0-0, Braylon 0-1-1, Plumer 1-0-2, Moro 1-0-2, Wresien 3-2-8, Carr 1-0-2, Hocking 0-0-0, Courture 0-0-0, Dhaliwal 0-0-0, Isa 0-0-0. Totals 14-5-33.
Hamilton-Wenham: Schrock 6-0-13, Menegoni 2-0-5, Labell 5-1-13, Collins 9-4-22, O’Bannon 2-1-5, Scanlon 1-0-2, Byers 0-0-0, Molitano 0-0-0, Stein 0-0-0, Broughton 0-0-0, Filipov 0-0-0. Totals 25-6-60.
Three-pointers: H, none; H-W; Labell 2, Schrock, Menegoni
Halftime score: Hamilton-Wenham, 25-18.
Records: H, 10-11; HW, 12-9