HOLYOKE — The Greenfield and Drury boys basketball teams met twice during the regular season. The Blue Devils won the first game, 70-66, and the second, 67-64. 

With two close games already in the books, it came as no surprise that when the two Hampshire League South squads faced off on Saturday in the Western Mass. Class C finals, the game would come down to who executed better in the fourth quarter. 

Drury’s Louis Guillotte laid the ball in with four minutes remaining, deadlocking the score at 45 and setting up what was expected to be a wild conclusion.

It was all downhill from there for Greenfield, however. Guillotte’s bucket sparked the beginning of a 15-0 run for the Blue Devils, which didn’t allow the No. 2 Green Wave to score for those final four minutes. No. 4 Drury built a lead and knocked down its free throws late to walk away with the Class C title via a 58-45 victory at Holyoke High School’s John “Jinx” O’Connor Gymnasium.

“It’s a tough way to finish,” Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas said. “We battled for the majority of the game. The things that we preach that can’t happen in order for us to win ended up happening. We weren’t boxing out, which led to offensive rebounds, giving up second shots and we didn’t hit shots either. That stems from being mentally prepared all the time, including practices and warm ups. That’s what we need to learn.” 

After Guillotte’s bucket, Drury’s Amont David crashed the glass for a second chance basket to give the Blue Devils the lead. David then scored down low and after a Green Wave miss, Drury was fouled, missed the first of the one-and-one but Guillotte was there to collect the offensive rebound and scored with the foul, putting the Blue Devils up 51-45 in the waning minutes. 

With the Drury defense locking things down on the defensive end of the court and Greenfield unable to knock down a shot, the Green Wave were forced to play the foul game. The Blue Devils knocked down seven free throws in the final two minutes to seal the victory. 

Guillotte took the game over in the fourth, where he scored 13 of his game-high 30 points. 

“He’s a tough stop,” Thomas said of Guillotte. “For the majority of the game we had the attention to detail and the game plan. With three minutes to go he just took over. Two of my guys fouled out. They battled their butts off. Hats off to Drury. They won it and beat us fair and square. It’s tough to guard a guy like that.” 

It was a slow start offensively for Greenfield (13-7). Jon Breor scored the opening basket of the game and Jacob Blanchard knocked down a 3 midway through the quarter, but those were the only two baskets the Green Wave converted in the frame. Guillotte got going with six points to give Drury (11-9) a 13-5 lead after eight minutes. 

Greenfield settled in during the second quarter. Breor and Caleb Murray opened with back-to-back buckets before Guillotte got to the rim for two. 

Murray then sank a pair from the line, Breor scored off a beautiful dish from Murray and Petru Cojocaru made a free throw to cut the lead to 15-14 midway through the second. Jackson Campbell drained a deep 3, Murray hit a floater and Oli Postera made two from the charity stripe, but the Blue Devils closed the quarter on a 6-2 run to take a 24-21 lead into the half. 

Drury looked to be controlling things during the third quarter, building its advantage to 37-29, but the Green Wave closed out the frame with a flurry of buckets to get back in it. 

Breor sank a pair of free throws, Greenfield made a stop and Murray slipped a pass to Blanchard in transition and Murray swished a 3 on the next trip down the court to cut the deficit to 37-36. 

The Green Wave got another stop with 30 seconds left in the quarter and Breor was fouled with 22 second left. He made the first and missed the second, but Postera zipped in to grab the offensive rebound and finished it, giving Greenfield a 39-37 lead heading into the fourth. 

Guillotte opened the fourth quarter by powering his way to the rim and converting a pair of and-ones to put the Blue Devils ahead, 43-39. 

The Green Wave answered with a run of their own. Breor got to the line and made one-of-two, Murray hit another floater, Caleb Thomas made a free throw before Murray buried a 3 with just under five minutes to play that put Greenfield up 45-43. It was the Green Wave’s final basket of the game. 

Murray led the way with 19 points for Greenfield. Breor tossed in 10 points while Blanchard finished with seven points. 

Next up for the Green Wave is a preliminary round matchup with St. Mary’s of Westfield in the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament. That game is set for a 6 p.m. start at Nichols Gymnasium on Monday. 

“Playoff game Monday,” Thomas said. “We have to turn our attention to that.” 

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