Southwick-Tolland’s Mark O’Neill dribbles the ball up the court as the Holyoke Catholic defense converges on the ball. (Photo by Chris Putz)
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick-Tolland Regional High School boys’ basketball team may be headed in a new direction, or rather is now under the direction of a new head coach, but so far the results are extremely positive.
Southwick improved to 2-0 on the young season with a 64-48 win over visiting Holyoke Catholic on Monday night. Mark O’Neill and Dylan Grunwald led the Rams with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
It was the second straight win for Southwick, which soundly defeated Ware in its season opener on Saturday.
“We do defend well,” said first-year head coach Andrew Burkholder. “We’re limiting teams to one shot, getting the ball out into transition. But we still haven’t run our offense really well yet early on.”
“We’re still trying to find our identity.”
Look out if Southwick does find its footing.
Burkholder said his goal is to improve the team defense, which has been getting outrebounded at times.
Southwick will look to its three senior starters, Grunwald, O’Neill, and Brendan Shea, to lead the way this season. Senior Ryan Herbert is expected to provide a spark off the bench.
“Our players are eager to learn,” Burkholder said. “They come out and give a great effort every day. We have a lot of players that can play.”
Palmer 70, Gateway 47
Calvin Dowers (14 points), Curtis Dowers (13), and Justin Edinger (10) each reached double-digits in a losing effort for Gateway, which trailed just 27-23 at the half.
Palmer’s Kamil Stasiowski scored a game-high 16 points.
“They outplayed us a bit in the third quarter,” said Gateway coach Mike O’Connell, whose team fell behind by 11 points by the start of the fourth quarter.
Palmer outscored Gateway 21-9 in the fourth quarter.
“I think fatigue set in,” O’Connell said.
Gateway (0-2) will look to break through in the win column when it travels to Westfield South Middle School to take on the St. Mary Saints on Wednesday.
