Claremont
“He just gets those big paws up there,” his coach, Matthew Baird-Torney, said of his 6-foot-2 rebounding senior forward.
The victory was the 13th in the last 14 games for the hot third-seeded Cardinals, who will host a quarterfinal game on Saturday back at Carr Gym against No. 6 Belmont, a 73-59 winner over St. Thomas in its first-round game.
Mascoma coach Jim Barry was hoping for a low-scoring game, but didn’t quite get it.
“I think we had to be a bit more patient,” Barry said. “We have some match-up problems, so I was hoping to keep the score down.”
Alex Schwarz, who scored 44 points the last time these teams met (a 72-59 Stevens win) and has scored 49 percent of all the Mascoma points this season, was the subject of some serious defense. The Cardinals’ Richard Bell drew the first assignment and was quick to admit that was not an easy assignment.
“He’s the best player in the division,” said Bell, who picked up two early fouls and handed the chore over to Nick O’Brien.
The duo kept him in check for most of three quarters, but Schwarz, who ended up with 24 points, finished strong with nine points on a trio of 3-point bombs in the last 55 seconds.
“It was good to see Alex finish like that,” Baird-Torney said.
There was a large vocal crowd, and Zach O’Brien thought that was a factor. “I think we fed off the crowd all night,” O’Brien said. “Boy, were they loud.”
Mascoma, the 14th seed, finished at 10-9.
Mascoma also was hampered by its lack of height, as the Cardinals got many put-back hoops.
“That’s been a problem for us all year,” Barry said.
What may have decided the game was Stevens’ scrambling defense, which made it difficult for Mascoma to slow the pace.
“Defense has been our strong point all year,” Baird-Torney said.
While Coby Hussey only had six points on Thursday, four came at a very opportune time. The Stevens lead, which grew to as much as 21 points in the third quarter, was just seven, 25-18, with 2:54 to go in the second quarter.
Then in a span of 15 seconds Hussey got two baskets on hustle drives that were followed by a Noah Spaulding (17 points) steal and score and the lead grew to 31-18 and Mascoma never got back in the game.
The Royals certainly did try as they had a 27-point fourth quarter and made 29 3-point attempts on the night, connecting eight times. Stevens was 3-of-12 from downtown.
Devin Duhaime had a solid game for the Royals with 13 points, hitting three times from outside the arc.
Richard Bell had 11 points, which included two 3-pointers.
Baird-Torney said he has not seen Belmont in person, but has viewed video of the team and is concerned, especially about a player named Trevor Hunt.
“He’s a 20-point scorer and had 24 tonight,” Baird-Torney said.
Game time on Saturday is 7 p.m. Stevens will take a 16-3 NHIAA record (19-3 overall) into the game.