GREENFIELD — The Pioneer boys basketball team picked a good time to find its stroke from behind the arc in its game against Greenfield on Monday. 

The Panthers had held the lead throughout the entire three quarters of the Hampshire League South showdown but the Green Wave opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, with a Caleb Thomas free throw putting Greenfield ahead, 35-34, with five minutes to play. 

That's when Pioneer — which hadn't made a 3 to that point — got it going from deep. 

Alex McClelland hit a floater to put the Panthers back in front and on the next possession, McClelland sank Pioneer’s first 3 of the night to give them a 39-35 lead. 

Brayden Thayer hit a deep 3 on the ensuing possession, Caleb Murray answered with a bucket inside for the Green Wave, but the Panthers found Josh Wood in the corner and the senior swished a 3 that put Pioneer ahead, 45-37, with two minutes to go. 

Greenfield kept it interesting late, with Thomas knocking down a jumper and a pair of 3's inside the final two minutes — the second coming with 45 seconds left to cut the lead to 49-45 — but the Panthers got a stop and made their free throws to hold on for a 54-45 victory at Nichols Gymnasium. 

“We talked about having to grind out games when the shooting isn't there,” Pioneer coach Scott Thayer said. “They proved they can do it against a quality opponent when it's rough and raw. They came at us guns blazing and we stood up to them. I'm proud of that.”

For Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas, it was those three possessions late where the Panthers knocked down open jumpers that decided the game. 

Avoiding those mental mistakes defensively is something Thomas said his team must clean up if they want to hit their goals this season. 

“We take the lead, we start to play our game and relax a little but then we have two defensive breakdowns,” Angelo  Thomas said. “Against a good team you can’t have those because the game comes down to two or three possessions and that’s exactly what happened. We take those three possession away where they hit those 3’s and the game is ours. Give them credit. That’s what good teams do. We’re trying to get there and we will get there.” 

It was Brayden Thayer who carried the scoring load for Pioneer (4-0). The junior finished with 27 points, 12 coming in the first quarter as he helped the Panthers build a 14-8 lead after one. Thayer added six rebounds and five assists. 

Pioneer held onto a 25-21 lead at the half before taking a 34-27 lead into the third quarter. 

McClelland finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals and Kurt Redeker scored 10 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for a Pioneer squad that is far from playing their best ball early in the season. 

“I wanted us to play through it,” Scott Thayer said. “We responded to their haymaker. We’re still not in the shape we’ll be in during March. We’re working toward that. It takes months to get there. We’re still lacking in that department.” 

Jon Breor had a big game inside for the Green Wave (1-1), scoring 18 points. Caleb Thomas tossed in 16 points, Murray scored five points while David Jung-Hernandez finished with four points in the loss. 

“These are the games you want,” Angelo Thomas said. “That was a playoff atmosphere. This was the most people here since I’ve been back coaching. We’re right there. We want to win Western Mass. and if we want to, we need to play in and win games in this environment.” 

Mahar 77, Hopkins 56 – A 25-point second quarter powered the Sens to a dominant Hampshire League South victory on Monday at Reed Gymasium in Hadley.

Four Mahar players finished in double figures – Derek Collins (17 points), Marshall Ames (16), Lucas Isrow (13) and Morgan Softic (10).

Tied 13-13 after one quarter, the Senators (3-0) stormed into halftime with a double-digit lead (38-27) and extended the advantage to 63-43 after three.

Smith Academy 62, Franklin Tech 31 – The host Falcons stormed out to a 15-2 lead after one quarter and cruised to a Hampshire League North win on Monday in Hatfield.

Robert Belval led the Eagles with eight points, and Cam Candelaria added six points on the night.

Garret Willard led Smith Academy with 18 points, and Greg Stone added 15.

Frontier 73, Lenox 49 — The Redhawks took a 34-21 lead into the half and exploded for 22 points in the third quarter to pull away with a Hampshire League South victory over the Millionaires in Lenox on Monday. 

Max Millette led the way with 16 points for Frontier (1-1) while Nico Fasulo (14), Owen Babb (14) and Sasha Dragicevich (13) joined him in double-figures. Caiden Manning chipped in nine points in the win. 

Girls basketball

Athol 59, PVCICS 29 – Allison Robertson poured in a game-high 17 points on five 3-pointers, and Jenna Bonenfant joined her in double figures with 14 points and six rebounds as the Bears picked up their first win of the season on Monday night at Mallet Gymnasium in Athol.

Brooklyn Hopkins went for eight points and six rebounds for Athol (1-1), and Anna Duquette added six points and five boards. Abigail Lutz and Abby Spooner tossed in five points apiece in a balanced effort for the Bears.

Next up for Athol is a road game at Franklin Tech on Friday.

Weekend wrestling

Frontier’s Edward Miezkowski earned a second place finish at 175 pounds, Wyatt Finch came in third at 120 while Javion Cabrera placed sixth at the Knighthawk Classic Wrestling Tournament on Saturday in Holyoke. 

Miezkowski earned a trio of wins before falling to Taunton’s Kingston Dacosta in the finals. Finch wrestled six times to earn the third place finish, winning three straight after falling in his second match to earn third while Cabrera went 3-3 on the day. 

Wrestling at Springfield Technical Community College over the weekend, Redhawk eighth graders Konnor James and Ber Calhoun won five matches to capture titles in their respective weight classes. Ben Baker won a trio of matches to place third while Jaxson Byrne won a match. 

The Mahar wrestling team competed in a trio of dual meets over the weekend, falling to Putnam (54-24), Longmeadow (64-6) and Worcester Tech (48-30). 

Colby Chaisson (144), Tristen Gaj (157), Dante Dowler (165) and Khalil Roberts (175) came away with wins over the Beavers, Gaj had the lone win of the day against the Lancers while Elias Roberts (132), Max Parsons (138), Chaisson, Gaj and Dowler earned wins against Worcester Tech.