Mazzotta Pours in 29 as Granby Memorial Races Past Canton High

The boys basketball team rebounded from its toughest loss of the season with an 83-54 thrashing of Canton High at home on Friday evening.

The victory proved to be just the tonic after a heartbreaking overtime defeat at the hands of East Granby High on Tuesday, Granby Memorial’s offense awakened from its hibernation and scored 52 points combined in the second and third quarters.

“I think we played our best half [game] of the year in the second and third quarters,” Bears head coach Wally Hansen said. “Our game plan was to get the ball inside, and our guys did a great job doing that, which opened up the outside.”

Forward Nick Mazzotta had one of his best games of the year, pouring in 29 points, 25 of which came in just over two quarters of play, as the Bears (5-7) scored a season-high 83 points.

“He was rolling tonight,” Hansen said.

Bears point guard Mike Noyes equally impressive, scoring 17 points while directing the offense and playing solid defense.

“Noyes is tough; he runs our show,” Hansen said. “As we go along here, he’s our catalyst. He makes us go.”

Carlin Champion had 12 points for Granby Memorial, while Dan Clark added nine, Curt Field had six, Kenny Joslyn and Jake Yankauskas each had four and Connor Brown added two in the winning effort.

Canton head coach Eric Deegan, for his part, said that his team needed to be more patient on offense against Granby Memorial in order to have a chance.

“Against a team that’s bigger and more physical, and quicker like Granby is, we’ve got to shorten the game,” Deegan said. “The only way we can shorten the game is longer possessions.”

It’s a strategy that worked during the entire first quarter and for most of the second, as Canton took a one-point lead, 14-13, after the first eight minutes and trailed just 39-33 at the half.

“We need to make five or six passes [per possession],” Deegan said. “If we do that, like we did a few times in the first half, we’re going to be more successful. In the second half, we got away from that. It would be one pass and a shot, two passes and a shot, and they were able to get the long rebound and they just pushed it on us, and we weren’t able to get back and defend.”

Colin Gurry scored a team-high 14 points for the Warriors, while Cameron Daley, Patrick Sullivan and Zach Powell each had eight, Tyler Lange scored six, Jake Wood had five, Tim Gavin had four and Tyler Detorie scored one.

Depth and size have been issues for the Warriors, who don’t have a player taller than 6-2, as the Bears exploded in the second half and pulled away from Canton (3-10).

“Last year was rebuilding, this year it’s rebuilding, too,” Deegan said. “It’s tough. We don’t have a lot of big kids in our program.”

Granby Memorial, for its part, has some depth issues, but Hansen said that he hopes this game will spark a winning streak after the Bears have suffered five losses this season of four points or less.

“Our guys have done a lot of soul searching,” Hansen said. “We’re talented. We’ve got to dig down deep and play together. We can be really good. We’re right there. These are wonderful kids; they’re awesome to be around. Every day is fun. Every day is a joy with these guys.”