Boys hoopsters find their pace in wins

The boys basketball team has finally come together at the end of the season starting with a huge 84-43 win over Cambridge last week.

“All the pieces fell together — what you try to teach the kids, and what they try to do as a team,” Coach Duane Dodge said.

The Horde took off with a 19-point lead in the first half and kept up their momentum to seal a safe victory. They kept Cambridge completely at bay at the end of the game with a 15-3 final quarter.

“It was a very good inside-outside game, and they played good defense,” Dodge said.

Jared Beattie snagged a game-high 30 points for the Horde, and he was greatly assisted by sophomore Jake Young.

Young had 17 points for Granville, including four 3-pointers.

“He’s only a sophomore, and it’s his first year playing. It’s a matter of feeling confident, and he finally realized he can play, and he’s a good player. I hope he continues to do so,” Dodge said.

Evan Hoagland and Elijah Fournier also contributed to the win with 15 and 10 points, respectively. For Cambridge, Shaeden Mosso led his team with 14 points, and Matt Parmenter added 12.

Dodge said this was a game the boys thought they should win ahead of time, and they did. Throughout the season he talked about a learning curve for his young team, and they finally seem to have hit their stride.

“You can see the improvement was there; it started a little later than we would’ve hoped, but it’s still there, so you can see they learned,” Dodge said.

On Friday, the Horde worked hard for another victory in a 62-54 Class-B play-in game against Corinth. Granville was the 18th seed while Corinth was 15, and the game proved to be a close match.

Though the Tomahawks pushed ahead by the end of the first half, the Horde pushed them down in the third quarter, outscoring them by 12 points, which was enough to seal the win despite a 21-19 final eight minutes.

Beattie made the most contact with the net with 21 total points, and Hoagland and Young kept up the pace with 14 and 10, respectively.

Corinth’s Blake Basmajian grabbed 14 points and Zac Lucia made 13 to head their team.