After opening the season with four straight wins, the Athol boys basketball team knew it was in for a tough stretch with Hampshire League South foes Frontier and Mahar up next on the schedule. 

The Bears showed on Thursday against the Redhawks the 4-0 start was far from a fluke. 

Angel Castillo ripped off six straight points for Athol before Ethan Bacigalupo got inside for two to give the Bears a 49-42 lead with 1:25 to play. 

Frontier wasn’t going to go down that easy, however. Max Millette got to the rim for two straight baskets before Owen Babb scored with 11 seconds to play to cut the Athol lead to 49-48. 

The Redhawks forced a steal and were fouled with four seconds to go but were unable to make the free throws, with Athol securing the rebound to eventually come away with a 50-48 independent victory at Goodnow Gymnasium.  

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” Bear coach Brian Patria said. “It’s been a long time since we beat Frontier. We worked extremely hard on defense holding a good shooting team to 48 points. We talked before the game about the opportunity this program has and they rose to the occasion. Overcoming adversity was another key to victory.”

Castillo led Athol with 20 points. Bacigalupo finished with 12 points, Ray Castine scored eight points while Ben Kearney tossed in seven points in the victory. 

Millette finished with 20 points, Babb scored 10 points, Nico Fasulo finished with eight points while Caiden Manning and Garrett Dredge each knocked down a 3 for Frontier (1-3). 

Pioneer 66, Mahar 39 — Josh Wood knocked down three 3’s to finish with a game-high 25 points, helping the Panthers move to 6-0 on the season with a Hampshire League South victory over the Senators in Northfield on Thursday.

It was the first loss of the season for Mahar (4-1). 

Brayden Thayer tossed in 14 points, Kurt Redeker finished with 12 points, Alex McClelland scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Gavin Gammell had three points and five assists while Hugh Cyhowski scored two points and snatched 11 boards in the win. Pioneer led 37-22 at the half.

Jayden Delgado led the Senators with 14 points. Lucas Isrow scored 10 points, Morgan Softic finished with seven points while Derek Collins scored six points in the defeat. 

Greenfield 59, Hopkins 51 — Jon Breor’s 25 points powered the Green Wave to a Hampshire League South win over the Golden Hawks in Hadley on Thursday. 

Caleb Murray scored 12 points, Caleb Thomas and Grayson Thomas each scored seven points while Ollie Postera had four points for Greenfield. 

The Green Wave trailed 31-27 at the half but rallied in the third to take a 47-43 lead going into the fourth. 

Smith Academy 61, Turners 42 — Garret Willard had a day for the Falcons, scoring 28 points while snatching eight steals to help the Falcons walk away with a Hampshire League North win over the Thunder in Hatfield on Thursday. 

Branden Truesdell scored 13 points, Jackson Cogswell tallied nine points, Caden Williams finished with seven points while Alex Quezada scored four points for Turners. 

Hockey

Greenfield 5, Chicopee 0 — Following a scoreless first period the Green Wave tallied three goals in the second period and tacked two on in the third to walk away with a victory over the Pacers in the Chicopee Winter Classic consolation game on Thursday. 

Brady Booska and Jake Jurek each tallied a goal and an assist while Porter Hall, Jack Laurie and Brady Poreda also found the back of the net for Greenfield. Brody Gagne added an assist while Cooper Smith stopped all 11 shots he faced.