ORANGE — The Mahar boys basketball team picked the right time to play its best basketball last season, winning the Western Mass. Class C tournament before making a run to the MIAA Div. 5 semifinals. 

The Senators are hoping for a repeat of that this winter. 

That began on Friday, when fourth-seeded Mahar hosted fifth-seeded Palmer in the quarterfinals of the Class C tournament. 

The Panthers stayed in it during the first half, as the game was knotted at 25 at intermission. The Sens took control in the third quarter to take a 42-36 lead going into the fourth, where Mahar used a 12-0 run to take command before going on to earn a 72-59 victory. 

“At this point it’s survive and move on,” Senators coach Chad Softic said. “I thought we had a pretty good second half there. Jayden [Delgado] was a mismatch down there. He can’t be embarrassed to get the ball every possession but he did a hell of a job there in the second half and we did a good job getting him the ball.” 

Mahar (13-6) advanced to the semifinals where it will play top-seeded Granby, which knocked off Hampden Charter, 97-66, Friday. The Senators and the Rams (14-4) met in the Class C finals last year, with Mahar coming out on top.

“I told the kids at halftime that I thought we were playing very poorly,” Softic said. “This game has absolutely no bearing on the next one. I thought we were going to win this game but if we can go out and win it, we have to put it in the rearview mirror. The next game has its own identity. I’m assuming it’ll be Granby and they're a hell of a basketball team.” 

Mahar led 14-11 after one but Palmer (13-5) made a big run midway through the second quarter to take a 23-18 advantage midway through the second. The Senators closed the half on a 7-2 run to tie things at 25 going into the break. 

Both teams traded baskets throughout the third quarter. Delgado and Marshall Ames scored back-to-back baskets late that put Mahar ahead 36-32 but Dylan Doherty and Adams Dupre added consecutive hoops for the Panthers that tied the game back up. 

Lian Lopez-Baez, Morgan Softic and Ames closed the third with baskets that allowed the Senators to take their 42-36 lead going into the fourth. 

Delgado got going in the early fourth with a pair of baskets and minutes later, Softic swished a 3 in the corner that put Mahar ahead, 52-41. 

Palmer responded with a 3-pointer of its own but the Sens responded with a 12-0 run behind six points from Delgado, four from Softic and two from Hunter Brooks that allowed Mahar to take a commanding 64-44 lead with three minutes to go. 

Trailing 70-49 with under two minutes to go, the Panthers made a run but it was too little too late as the Senators lead was too much to overcome. 

“We can be a pretty good basketball team when we’re playing with some basketball IQ,” Softic said. “We’ve done it before and we can do it again.” 

Delgado finished with a game-high 26 points in the victory. Ames tallied 17 points, Softic scored 15 points, Lopez-Baez recorded six points while Brooks and Derek Collins each added four points for Mahar. 

Doherty led Palmer with 21 points while Matt Santos added 14 points in the loss. 

Class B quarterfinals 

South Hadley 68, Greenfield 64 — The sixth-seeded Green Wave found themselves in a 53-40 hole going into the fourth quarter against the third-seeded Tigers but Greenfield had a run it it in the final eight minutes. 

The Wave outscored South Hadley 24-15 in the fourth — 11 of those points coming from Grayson Thomas while nine came from Caleb Thomas — but the comeback fell short, as the Tigers knocked out Greenfield in the quarterfinals on Friday. 

Grayson Thomas finished with 22 points, Jon Breor tallied 16 points, Caleb Thomas and Gavin Arsenault each scored nine points while Erik Martineau added five points for the Green Wave. 

Non-playoff games

McCann Tech 50, Turners Falls 40 — The Thunder fell behind 26-13 at the half before falling to the Hornets in Turners on Friday. 

Freilyn Abarua led the way with 14 points, Jackson Cogswell scored 10 points, Alex Quezada recorded nine points while Caden Williams added five points in the loss for Turners. 

Girls basketball

Non-playoff games

Mohawk Trail 31, McCann Tech 29 (OT) — Holding a 9-9 record, the Warriors needed to win one of their final two games to earn an automatic bid to the MIAA Div. 5 state tournament. 

They did just that on Friday. 

Mohawk Trail held a 22-17 lead going into the fourth but the Hornets were able to hold the Warriors to two points in the fourth to send the game to overtime tied at 24. The Warriors took the lead and knocked down five free throws in the extra period to clinch its first spot in the new state tournament format with an OT victory in Buckland. 

Natalie Lanoue scored 12 points, Emmalee Inman recorded 10 points, Bella Pettengill tallied four points while Valerie Bzomowski added three points in the winning effort. 

Thursday results

Girls basketball

Athol 36, PVCICS 20 — Madi Hermes led the way with 14 points as the Bears defeated the Dragons in a non- playoff contest on Thursday at Mallet Gymnasium. 

Ava Adams and Allison Robertson both scored six points while Ava Martin added five points in the win. 

Ice hockey

E. Longmeadow 10, Greenfield 1 — Jack Laurie netted the lone goal for the Green Wave in Thursday’s road loss at the Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield.

The goaltending trio of Cooper Smith, Ben Johnston and Logan Caron combined to make 25 saves for Greenfield, which finished its regular season 11-7-1 overall. The Wave are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming PVIAC Class A tournament, and will play the Spartans, seeded fourth, in a rematch next Wednesday, Feb. 19 back at the Olympia in the semifinal round.