Mascenic leapt at the chance to topple a giant Friday night, as the hulking Hopkinton Hawks came to New Ipswich and showed that preseason rankings don’t amount to much more than a hill of beans.
“We played really well,” said Mascenic head coach John Langlois after the Vikings’ season-opening 59-44 win over preseason No. 1 Hopkinton. “They’ve got tremendous size, I mean, they’re huge, but we kept them off the boards pretty well.”
Langlois countered the Hawks’ big men, Kevin Newton-Delgado (6’4”) and Brendan Elrick (6’6”), with Gabe Turner, Zack Barthel and Shea Zina, neutralizing Elrick and holding Newton-Delgado to six first-half points.
The Vikings don’t have much height of their own, Langlois admitted, but they made up for that Friday night.
“We’ve got a lot of heart, and that’s huge,” Langlois said. The Vikings played stout defense throughout, while senior point guard Sam Stauffeneker did the heavy lifting on offense, scoring 19 points in the first half on an array of wild shots that all seemed to fall. Stauffeneker would finish with a game-high 30 and start his senior campaign off with a bang.
“Sammy Stauffeneker, what a player,” said Hopkinton coach Steve Signor. “I told him after the game, ‘As of right now, you’ve got my vote for Player of the Year.’ It’s early, it’s only the first game of the season, but you know what? He singlehandedly broke us down to create opportunities to all the other guys, and the other guys responded well.”
Down eight at the half, Hopkinton responded in the third, holding Mascenic to seven points, while Newton-Delgado dumped in nine of his team-high 17 in the quarter, tying the game at 35-all on a three-pointer from the corner. The Hawks took the lead briefly, but the Vikings roared back.
“We really focused on getting stops and trying to chip away with one basket, one stop at a time,” Signor said. “We did well, but you know what? [Mascenic] picked up their intensity and we didn’t match it, they finally dug deep, showed who they are and where they want to be.”
The Vikings dropped 20 in the fourth quarter and held Hopkinton to just three baskets as they ran away with the win.
“We didn’t fold,” Langlois said. “We hung tough and came back.”
Senior sharpshooter Trey Shaw added 14 points for Mascenic and Barthel had 14.
Mascenic (1-0) has another tough game up next, as they travel to Campbell Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Wilton-Lyndeborough 67, Hinsdale 65
Kyler Tremblay got two shots at a gamewinner Friday night against the Pacers and buried the second, a deep two-pointer at the buzzer, to give the Warriors a 67-65 win over Hinsdale to start the season.
“Amazing game tonight,” said first-year head coach Malin Segal. “Great first win.”
Tremblay fired up a two pointer with time ticking down; it missed, but Zach Taylor grabbed the rebound and kicked it back out to Tremblay for the win. Tremblay finished with 19 points and senior Jack Schwab poured in 30.
WLC (1-0) hosts Derryfield Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
ConVal 36, Kingswood 30
Baskets were tough to come by at Kingswood Friday night, but the Cougars pulled it together to win their season-opener on the road, 36-30.
“Always good to open with a win,” said head coach Kevin Proctor.
ConVal missed 17 free throws and more than their share of layups, Proctor said, but got 12 points from Julia Donovan and 10 from senior captain Emma Hixson to get the job done. Makenna Proctor hit a three in the fourth quarter for her first varsity points as the Cougars outscored the Knights 13-8 in the final frame to hold on for a six-point win.
ConVal (1-0) is at Souhegan Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.