LONGMEADOW — To say the fourth quarter performance from the Longmeadow boys basketball team was special on Friday night would be an understatement.
After struggling against rival East Longmeadow for the better part of 24 minutes at Robert M. D’Agostino Gymnasium, the Lancers put it all together over the course of the final eight minutes. Jackson Passano and Sam Tyson combined for 25 points after intermission, and both came up clutch in the fourth quarter to propel Longmeadow to a come-from-behind 56-40 independent victory.
Longmeadow improved to 4-1 overall with its third win in a row, the program’s best start to a season since 2019-20.
“I think the first three quarters, we played East Longmeadow basketball, and we let them dictate how the game was going to go, and it took until the fourth quarter where we finally played Longmeadow basketball and came out and did what we needed to do,” said Longmeadow coach Pat Murphy “Especially early in the game, we just weren’t hitting shots. And for us, that’s a big indication of how we do, unfortunately. So we didn’t hit many shots in the first three quarters then the last quarter, we hit a bunch of threes, and we came out with the victory.”
Buoyed by the play of junior guard Noah Enriquez-Davis (season-high 20 points), East Longmeadow (4-2) took the lead off the opening tip and didn’t give it up until the fourth quarter.
Longmeadow stayed within striking distance though, never trailing by more than eight points. The Spartans’ largest lead was 28-20 after Enriquez-Davis hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, but Passano, Tyson and Jayden Anoje all drained 3s in the third, and Passano’s second triple of the frame just before the buzzer tied the game at 36 entering the fourth.
“He’s been great,” said Murphy of Passano, a junior newcomer. “He’s hit shots in every game that he’s played in for us, and it’s been a welcome addition to our team this year.”
Longmeadow’s solid close to the third quarter was a sign of things to come in the fourth. The Lancers opened the final stanza on an 11-0 run, which included another 3 from Passano as well as buckets from Alex Sverrisson and Joe Martinez.
Defensively, Longmeadow held the Spartans off the board for the first 4:07 of the fourth, and by the time Enriquez-Davis sank a layup to break the scoreless spell, the Lancers were in control up 47-38.
All told, it was a 20-4 advantage for the hosts in the fourth quarter, which helped extend their winning streak over East Longmeadow to five games. East Longmeadow head coach Brendan Abad played for Murphy during his time at Longmeadow High School, and the veteran mentor said he enjoys the battles with the school from just a few miles down the road.
“This is a huge rivalry,” said Murphy. “It means a ton to me. I played here, been coaching here a long time… it means a lot. So for our guys, we try to get them to calm down a little bit and understand that it’s just another game, but it’s a big one. We have goals at the beginning of the year, very high up on that list is beating East Longmeadow. No matter if we play them in December or March, we want to beat East Longmeadow.”
Tyson’s 15 points led the way for Longmeadow, while Passano was right behind with 14 (all in the second half). Martinez tossed in nine points and Jacob Millet added six.
Enriquez-Davis’ 20 points impressed for the Spartans, which led 13-7 after one quarter and 25-18 at halftime when the junior guard scored a highlight-reel bucket just before the intermission buzzer. Shane Gray added seven points and Nolan Garstka followed with five in the loss.
Still early in the season, Longmeadow sits one-half game back of first-place Sci-Tech in the Valley Wheel standings. Murphy expects a tight race in what is shaping up to be a competitive league. Besides the Cybercats, Minnechaug, Amherst, Northampton and Springfield International all look capable of making a push for a league title.
“Our league is always tough. You know, the second league [behind the Valley League] always gets a bad rap, but we’ve had Western Mass. champions coming out of this league,” said Murphy. “And every night is a tough night. We have great coaches in the league, every night we’re coaching against somebody who knows what they’re doing, and scouted you, is prepared, is ready to go.”
The Longmeadow coach also noted the ever-evolving nature of Western Massachusetts high school basketball, which has seen many familiar faces changing uniforms this winter.
“We’re in a weird time right now with the transfer portal going on,” he offered. “It’s crazy. But I always live by a saying that ‘you go to war with who you got, not who you want.’ We’d love to have 6-foot-8 guys, but we don’t have them. We have guys that go to this school, live in this town, and we train them. And for three months, we try to make them better basketball players. And it’s unfortunate now where some nights we go on the court and we’re playing against the best kids in Western Mass. from all over. I’ll go with my guys anywhere. We’ve trained them, they’re ready to fight anybody. It’s just a sad state when it’s like, transfer portal, NBA trade deadline stuff.”
Longmeadow looks to keep its strong start going when it plays at Minnechaug on Monday at 6:30 p.m. in a key Valley Wheel contest, while the Spartans, which are 2-0 in the Suburban South, host league foe Westfield on Tuesday.
