The Mohawk Trail Nordic ski team made the trip up to Prospect Mountain Ski Area in Woodford, Vt. on Tuesday to compete in the annual MIAA Nordic State Championship.

The Warrior boys placed 12th out of 17 teams, with Vincent Gauthier having the top finish on the team after taking 27th with a time of 21 minutes, 37 seconds. Oscar Schiff placed 50th (23:09), Emmet Johnson earned 58th (23:41), Augustus Niswonger took 62nd (24:13), Adam Muller came in 70th (24:51) and Luke Pickard finished in 75th (25:59) for Mohawk Trail, which co-ops with Hampshire Regional.

Mt. Greylock took first place, with Mountie Quinn McDermott the overall winner with a time of 18:24. 

The Mohawk Trail girls placed 16th on Tuesday. Charlotte Niswonger had the top time of 30 minutes to place 56th, followed by Anya Read in 60th (30:16), Corinne Somes in 90th (32:37), Ada Corner in 96th (34:32) and Sadie Mahon-Moore in 102nd (39:12). 

Newton North’s Clara Lake was the individual winner (21:30) while Concord-Carlisle took first as a team. 

Boys basketball

Pioneer 63, Frontier 47 — The Hampshire League South belongs to the Panthers. 

Pioneer needed a win on Tuesday to finish 10-2 in the league and secure an outright first place finish and did just that, blazing out to a 39-26 halftime lead before coming away with a win at Messer Gymnasium over the Redhawks. 

“It’s a very competitive league,” Panther coach Scott Thayer said. “There’s no easy wins. The kids fought through adversity and have been resilient and gritty. When you do things like that success comes your way.” 

Josh Wood led the way offensively for Pioneer, scoring 20 points. Brayden Thayer tallied 11 points, Kurt Redeker and Hugh Cyhowski both tossed in nine points, Gavin Gammell and Alex McClelland each had five points while senior Sam Glazier scored four points in the victory. 

Max Millette went off for 21 points for Frontier. Owen Babb recorded nine points, Nico Fasulo scored eight points and Luke Howard finished with five points in the loss. 

Mahar 47, Greenfield 46 — It came down to the wire in Orange on Tuesday. 

Senator Connor Sluder went to the line with seven seconds left for a one-and-one, and the senior knocked down both shots to give Mahar a 47-46 lead. The Green Wave were unable to get the game-winner on the other end, with Mahar squeaking out a Hampshire League South victory. 

"It was a really exciting win and on Senior Night and our seniors really shined in the second half,” Senator coach Chad Softic said. “Connor Sluder was huge hitting both free throws and was a stud defensively all night on [Jon] Breor, who is a handful. Hunter Martin was big all night and picked up a big charge in transition for us and Gavin Sullivan had a number of assists in the second half while defending Caleb Murray.”

With this being its final game, Mahar now waits to see if it’ll get into the Western Mass. Class B tournament, where it currently sits one spot outside the field. 

“We now just wait for our fate,” Softic said. “At 11-7 and playing in the Hampshire League South, there is something wrong if we don't qualify for the Western Mass. tourney but it's all math now.”

Martin had a big offensive night for the Sens, dropping 20 points. Sluder scored 12 points while Will Barnes and Cathal Davis both had four points in the victory. 

Jackson Campbell knocked down four 3’s to finish with 12 points, Caleb Thomas tossed in 11 points, Murray recorded nine points, Oli Postera had seven points and Breor finished with four points for Greenfield. 

Athol 59, Smith Academy 48 — The Bears got their revenge against the Falcons. 

After Smith Academy went on the road and beat Athol last Wednesday, the Bears returned the favor by picking up a Hampshire League North win over Smith in Hatfield on Tuesday. 

It was a big second half that got the job done for Athol. The Bears trailed 29-20 at the half but outscored the Falcons 18-8 in the third quarter and 21-11 in the fourth quarter to pull away with the victory. 

“The second half was huge for us,” Athol coach Brian Patria said. “We came out more aggressive on defense. We changed some concepts to limit [Smith Academy point guard] Riley Intrator. We were mostly trapping to create turnovers. Rebounding was big, too. Offensively we made some shots. It’s a nice win for us and I believe it says a lot about who we are. Again we had to scrap and claw our way out. We’re peaking at a good time.” 

Angel Castillo was one of those players who got hot in the second half, as he scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the final 16 minutes of action. Ben Kearney tossed in 11 points, Ethan Bacigalupo scored nine points and helped lead the Bear defense, Conall Tontodonato put in eight points and Logan Cormier had five points in the triumph. 

Intrator (20) and Ryan Belina (11) finished in double-figures for the Falcons. 

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