The Knights (3-1) missed on their first couple of attempts from 3-point territory, but soon found their range. Nate Chouinard, Jared Martel and Patrick Kuklinski all guided triples through the hoop as Poland used an 8-0 run to take a 15-6 lead just over five minutes in.
Poland star big man John Fossett then joined in on the scoring, adding a couple baskets from the paint as the Knights stretched their lead to 22-9 after one quarter.
“We came out really flat-footed defensively,” Gray-NG head coach Ryan Deschenes said. “We were just flat all around.”
Fossett stayed hot, putting in two more close shots early in the second, but the Patriots (1-3) found their rhythm and climbed back within 26-15 after a 6-0 run.
Fossett soon after went to the bench with two fouls and Gray-NG took advantage. Kyle Keenan dropped in two buckets down low to lead a handful of Patriot points in the paint. The Poland lead shrunk to just 30-24 at halftime.
“Offensively we started finding guys, finding the right spots,” Deschenes said.
That lead was reduced to nothing within the first two minutes of the third quarter, as John Martin drained a 3 on the opening possession and John Henry Villanueva completed a 3-point play to knot the game up 30-30 with 6:05 left in the period.
With the game essentially becoming a new contest, Poland did the same thing it did at the start of the game — run away with the score. The Knights pulled away on a 13-2 run, capped off by a Caleb Hodgkin basket with 2:35 remaining in the third.
“Basketball’s a game of runs, and so I told the guys at halftime,” said Poland head coach Tyler Tracy, whose team just needed to relax to go on its second big run. “It was just whose going to have the longest run and the last run and luckily it was us.”
That amount of separation stood at the end of the period, with the Knights in front 49-38. Hodgkin scored six of his 12 points in the third, as Fossett sat some more with three fouls.
The Patriots quickly closed the gap, however, as Villanueva’s basket just over two minutes into the fourth made it 51-45.
Gray-NG kept it close the rest of the way, but wasn’t able to draw even. The Patriots had a chance to draw within one basket after Fossett fouled out with 1:49 left, but an unforced turnover gave the ball back to Poland. Gray-NG didn’t get another field goal attempt until exactly one minute after the turnover, but by then Villanueva’s layup with 37 seconds left was too little, too late.
“It’s big because it’s Gray, which is a rivalry game. We kept our composure at the end,” Tracy said of withstanding the Patriots’ comebacks. “Also big because we’re very inexperienced, and we’re getting better every game. We’re learning a lot as we go.”
Chouinard made six free throws in the final period to help the Knights hold on. They represented half of his 12 points.
“Nate’s a very talented player,” Tracy said. “He hasn’t got going yet, more or less because he’s not very confident at the moment. When he realizes how good he is, he could be a very good player.”
Fossett had a relatively quiet team-high of 14 points, while Kuklinski also finished in double figures with 12.
Villanueva had a game-high 15, while Keenan and Martin each had 13 and Zack Haskell added 10 for the Patriots
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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