For the Gazette
EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton boys basketball team built on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter to secure its spot in playoffs with a 68-49 win over Palmer, Monday.
“At the end of the first quarter we were doing what we normally do, which is getting some good pressure on the ball, getting some turnovers, getting some rebounds and we were able to push the ball and get out and transition, which is what we like to do,” Eagles coach Brian Miller said.
Sopie Pek, who finished with 27 points, started the run for Easthampton with a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a one-point lead. Pek then scored the next six points of the game to put the Eagles ahead by eight.
“Coach called a timeout and he told us to pick it up,” Pek said. “He was telling us to step it up and stop letting our man go by. It’s like a competition, you don’t want your man to score on you and that’s what we did.”
After not scoring for six straight minutes, the Panther’s Daniel Ladue opened the second quarter with a layup to cut the Eagles lead to 18-8.
“The first quarter we knew what they were going to come out as, we were prepared for that and then we didn’t play like it,” Palmer coach Ryan Minns said. “They like to run up and down the floor and we just didn’t get after it enough.”
Throughout the second quarter the Panthers chipped away at Easthampton’s lead and cut it down to five going into halftime.
“I don’t think we played with a lot of energy tonight,” Miller said. “You know normally when we get a couple easy baskets we can keep things rolling but tonight our defense wasn’t really doing the job.”
With three minutes left in the game Easthampton called a timeout. From there, the Eagles went on an 11-2 run to close out the game.
Easthampton’s Ant Moynihan finished with 16 points while Darnel Whitley had 12 and Zade Jenkins 11.
Easthampton (10-4, 4-0 Bi-County East) qualified for the Western Massachusetts Division 3 Tournament. Palmer (7-7) fell to 3-1 in the league.
“I think we need to rest a little bit,” Miller said. “We looked a bit tired tonight so we will probably take a few days off here and there and then we will go light, but we want to win league and we want a nice high seed to get a home tournament game.”
