AMHERST — It’s a big year for the Chicopee Comp boys basketball team. The Colts have moved up to play with the big boys, as they were aligned into the Valley League with the likes of Springfield Central, Pope Francis, Holyoke, and Putnam Tech.
While Comp gets its crack at Springfield Central next week in its league opener, the club set the tone for what it hopes is a breakthrough campaign on the hardwood via an 86-49 season-opening win over rival Chicopee during the Pioneer Valley Tip-Off at the Mullins Center on Friday night.
Senior Brody Fay, a Preseason Super 7 selection, scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, and pulled down nine rebounds to lead a high-powered Comp offense that shot 53% from the floor and 40% from 3.
“We’ve got depth,” explained Fay of this year’s team. “I mean, everyone in here, from the starting five to the guys on the bench, we can run with other teams, and some teams don’t have that. Some teams don’t have depth. We have that. So just being able to compete every single night, no matter who it is, I feel very confident in our team.”
Four players scored in double figures for Chicopee Comp. In addition to Fay’s big night, which earned him Player of the Game honors, Jacoby Haney hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, while Xavier Kleps (14 points) and Elijah Kleps (13 points, 11 rebounds) also had strong offensive outings.
“Our depth is really strong, so we want to take advantage of that,” offered Comp head coach Gavin Miller. “We do want to push. We want to look to kick it up the floor, fast-paced basketball. That’s what we’re looking to do.”
The Colts stormed out of the gates to the tune of a 16-2 lead just four minutes into the opening quarter. Comp lost to Chicopee in this same event a year ago, and Fay said there was extra motivation to avoid a similar fate.
“This was definitely a get-back game from last year,” he said. “It’s been on my mind since last year. I don’t like the way I felt on the bus ride home, so we made sure to change that.”
Comp held a 47-33 edge on the boards, and forced 18 Chicopee turnovers that it often turned into transition offense.
Haney’s back-to-back buckets gave Comp a 39-21 lead in the second quarter, and the Colts held a 46-28 halftime advantage.
The Pacers pulled within 60-45 late in the third quarter thanks to the play of Dominic Garcia (7 points) and Jabari Flowers (16), but Comp opened the third quarter on a 15-2 run to run away and hide.
After winning the Suburban South the last two years, the Colts make the move up to the Valley along with fellow newcomers Agawam and Pope Francis. There won’t be any easy nights in their new conference home, though Fay said his team is embracing the impending challenge.
“We’ve been waiting for it for the past four years. We’ve been waiting for it,” he said. “We’re looking forward to playing those teams because we haven’t had the opportunity to really show what Chicopee Comp is about. So just being able to have the opportunity, I think we’re going to shock some people.”
Miller said the tough league slate should hopefully prepare Comp for the postseason, where the Colts are seeking to win a state tournament game for the first time since the statewide format began in 2021.
“We won the league the last two years, so we wanted to move up,” he said. “It’s going to be a great challenge. There are some tough teams in this league, and we’re going to see where we’re at.
“We have some good seniors, seniors who are really good leaders. And we’ve got some real good young guys, so it’s a balance of everything that we have right now. So I think we’re gelling pretty well right now. We just need to progressively get better. Our goal is just to get better every day. So by playoff time, we’re playing our best basketball.”
