New Mission pulls away from Pioneer Valley, 60-47
WORCESTER >> For the first time in almost a decade, the New Mission boys basketball team will have a chance to play for a state championship.
Led by 18 points from Joseph Jackson and 13 by Jamari Toney-Simmons, the Titans closed on a devastating 13-2 run over the final 4:30 that got them past a gritty and game Pioneer Valley squad, 60-47, and into a date with No. 1 Hoosac Valley in the Division 5 final on Saturday (2 p.m.) at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
It felt very much like a heavyweight fight most of the way on Thursday, but New Mission coach Eleazar Clayton was proud of how his team stuck to its game plan.
“(Pioneer Valley) was tough and so well coached. It took a lot of scouting and watching tape to figure out how to slow them down,” Clayton said. “The boys held to their principles we teach them in the fourth quarter.”
It felt like it was going to take more than regulation to settle the outcome as neither team could take bigger than a four-point lead all game.
New Mission (18-6) led by three heading to the fourth quarter but that didn’t last long as five straight from the Panthers game them the lead. The teams traded the lead before Kurt Redeker’s (19 points) put back tied the game at 47 with 4:40 to go.
Then came a devastating 60-second stretch for Pioneer Valley.
Musa Fofana hit a three from the left corner to make it 50-47 New Mission. Jackson, who led all Titans scorers with 18, scored off a steal and then Toney-Simmons followed moments later with a one-handed tomahawk dunk to make it 54-47 and force a Panthers timeout.
“Joseph is a senior leader and he is finally growing into that role,” Clayton said.
Redeker got the Panthers as close as 55-49 with just over a minute to go but thundering dunks from Toney-Simmons and Solis Blue provided the exclamation point for the Titans.
“This is the first time this group has gotten here and they’ve believed in themselves all season,” Clayton said.
It was a seesaw affair all game as the teams were tied at 14 after the first quarter before the Panthers took a four-point lead in the second quarter. But the Titans closed the half on a 9-3 run to carry a 32-30 lead into the break.
They managed to increase the lead to three (41-38) after three quarters despite going cold from the floor and managing only four field goals in the quarter.