Boys basketball: Smith Academy locks down in the second half, gets past rival Hopkins Academy 42-29 (PHOTOS)

Smith Academy’s Ryan McCoy (2) looks to make a pass during the first half of the Falcons’ 42-29 win over Hopkins on Monday night in Hatfield.

Smith Academy’s Ryan McCoy (2) looks to make a pass during the first half of the Falcons’ 42-29 win over Hopkins on Monday night in Hatfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Hopkins’ Chace Earle dribbles toward the top of the key during the first half of the Golden Hawks’ 42-29 loss to Smith Academy on Monday night in Hatfield. Earle had a team-high 20 points.

Hopkins’ Chace Earle dribbles toward the top of the key during the first half of the Golden Hawks’ 42-29 loss to Smith Academy on Monday night in Hatfield. Earle had a team-high 20 points. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Hopkins’ Logan Bye (5) and Smith Academy’s Jake Wilcox (20) wrestle for a loose ball during the second half of the Falcons’ 42-29 win over Hopkins on Monday night in Hatfield.

Hopkins’ Logan Bye (5) and Smith Academy’s Jake Wilcox (20) wrestle for a loose ball during the second half of the Falcons’ 42-29 win over Hopkins on Monday night in Hatfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

By GARRETT COTE

Staff Writer

Published: 12-16-2024 9:47 PM

HATFIELD — Chace Earle was picking apart the Smith Academy boys basketball team’s zone defense in the first half. The Hopkins Academy junior had 16 of his team’s 20 points as the Golden Hawks held on to a 20-18 lead at the break.

Falcons head coach Matt Zerneri knew that if his group was going to pull out a win on its home floor on Monday night, the defensive strategy had to change.

Zerneri rolled out a box-and-one the remainder of the night, with Earle being shadowed face-to-face the entire second half. He scored only four points over the next two quarters, and Hopkins was limited to only nine points as a team. Smith Academy received timely shooting from senior Garrett Willard and a strong second half from senior Jake Wilcox to propel the Falcons to a 42-29 season-opening win.

“I’m very happy with our second half performance,” Zerneri said. “Chace was trying to kill us in the first half, so we had to make an adjustment to that. The boys listened and executed. It’s something we hadn’t worked on all preseason, but we were able to bring it out there and execute. It’s tough to score when you’re getting face-guarded all the time. He’s a great player. Good size and can shoot, so I’m proud of the boys for shutting him down in the second half.”

Hopkins lost three of its four leading scorers from last year’s team, and each of them could handle the ball while under pressure. Smith Academy wanted to test the Golden Hawks’ young players that may not have as much in-game experience, so the Falcons pressed for nearly all four quarters. Although Hopkins had no trouble with the press early on, fatigue eventually played a factor.

The Golden Hawks turned the ball over several times as the game went on, and it led to fastbreak points for Smith Academy, which built its lead to 14 by the end of the third quarter.

“We wanted to make the game faster,” Zerneri said. “We knew they didn’t have a lot of returners, so we tried to make it a faster game for them. Sometimes it was simple mistakes that were made, or they took quick shots that gave us rebound opportunities. That was the plan going into it.”

Part of the reason Hopkins struggled to beat Smith Academy’s full-court pressure as the game went on was because the Hawks were without Eric Cruz-Perez, who went down with an injury in the first quarter. Cruz-Perez is one of Hopkins’ best ball handlers, so without him, first-year head coach Lee Mollison had to dig into his bench.

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Earle had to assume point guard duties on top of having to do the bulk of the Golden Hawks’ scoring. He was subbed out for 40 seconds in the first quarter, but after Hopkins turned it over immediately, he checked back in and played the rest of the game.

“He’s a great competitor, and we asked him to do a lot tonight,” Mollison said. “He became our primary ball handler after Eric’s injury in addition to being our primary scorer and a really good defensive player for us. He played most of the game, so there was an element of fatigue. Asking all the young guys to step up was challenging with it being the first game of the year. We’ve only been together two weeks.”

After a pair of Earle free throws made it 29-24 midway through the third quarter, Smith Academy erupted on a 9-0 run to close the quarter. Wilcox swished a pair of free throws – two of his eight points in the third quarter – to spark the run, and Willard capped it with two free throws and a long-range 3, his fourth of the night.

Smith Academy outscored Hopkins 20-5 in the frame, sending them to the fourth with a 13-point cushion. Willard ended the night with a game-high 22 points and hit several key shots, including one that answered a  Matthew Vassalo 3-pointer early in the fourth – putting to rest any chance at a Hopkins comeback.

Rowan Jeffress chipped in seven points, Connor Kowlaski buried a 3 for Smith Academy and Cameron Graves was everywhere on the defensive end.

“It’s nice when you have somebody who can drop 20 for you,” Zerneri said of Willard. “We haven’t had that in awhile. It’s a nice feeling to be able to rely on that. Cam Graves didn’t score, but I think he had a double-double with rebounds and steals. His scoring will come. But Garrett knocking down shots, it was huge for us. It opened everything up for us.”

Smith Academy (1-0) hosts Lee on Thursday night at 7 p.m. looking to pick up a second consecutive win at home.

Hopkins Academy (0-1) got four points from Logan Bye, three points from Vassalo and a pair from Jack Cycz to round out the visitors’ scoring. The Golden Hawks travel to Hampshire Regional at 7 p.m. on Thursday as part of a four-game road stand to start the year.