Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News Northfield's Eli Diebold goes high in the air to block a shot by Williamstown's Mitch St. Onge in Monday Night's game at Northfield. The Marauders stayed close for over one half but the Blue Devil Machine got rolling in he third quarter and beat Northfield 64-40. The smooth operating machine that is the undefeated Williamstown High Boy’s basketball team rolled into town on Monday night and cruised back over the hill with a 64-40 victory over the Northfield High Marauders.

The 24 point margin, however, is a little deceptive. The Marauders kept it close for a little over two quarters but the Blue & White Machine moved into high gear midway through the third stanza for two reasons – a key injury to Northfield point guard Kevin Darling , and one Williamstown player that owned the third quarter. The big cog in gears of the machine (on this night) was senior guard Ray Burgos who poured through 29 points and made countless steals.

“When Kevin went down early in the third quarter, that really hurt team morale. We just couldn’t handle their full court pressure. They put it away in the third quarter,” said Northfield coach Nathan Driscoll.

Prior to the game coach Driscoll said he thought that his backcourt could stay with the Blue Devils but he was concerned with Steven Manwaring and Troy Laughlin, Williamstown’s two big men in the post.

Ironically it was the Blue & White backcourt that got it done for the ‘Devils and one of the shortest players from Northfield, Eli Diebold, who got a lot of Marauder rebounds and blocks.

Northfield’s inside game from Adam Daley, Danny Rowe, Ryan Robbins and Tyler Ellis was a hard working “lunch pail” effort as they held Manwaring to only three points and allowed the high scoring Laughlin only 13, but nobody in a Maroon & White uniform had an answer for Ray Burgos. Especially in the third quarter . The lightning quick, five foot eight, senior guard was seemingly everywhere in the third frame as he pressured the ball to create steals, swooped in with layups off those turnovers and lit it up from three point land with three of his game high four three pointers in the third. Burgos accounted for 16 of the 21 Blue Devil Points in the third quarter.

“Ray is our spark plug. He doesn’t quit. The whole team has a don’t quit attitude,” said Williamstown coach Jack Carrier. “We showed our third quarter wonder again tonight. We have been doing that all year. I wish I could find a way for us to start the game that way,” he added.

The Varsity game came on the heels of a 51-50 Northfield J.V. win that had the crowd buzzing and when the main event got underway. The 1-2 Marauders stayed close to the 5-0 ‘Devils for a while.. Williamstown jumped out to a 6-0 lead mid way through the first but Northfield finally found the range and when the first eight minutes were done Williamstown had moved out to a 9-4 lead.

The Marauders cut that lead to 11-8 with six minutes to go in the half.

The Blue Devil advantage stretched out to six in the closing seconds of the first half but a Danny Rowe putback on a nice effort cut the “Devils lead to 20- 16 with :40 left in the first half. Adam Daley nailed a ten footer with just :10 to go but Troy Laughlin countered the Daley hoop with a buzzer beater bunny that made it 22-18, Williamstown at the half.

The third quarter did not have an auspicious start for the Marauders.

Point guard, and one of the team spark plugs, Kevin Darling injured his knee in the Williamstown end just seconds into the period and had to be assisted off the court. He would not be able to return.

Eli Diebold, who was all over the court for the Marauders, layed in a nice inside shot to pull the Marauders to within 2 at 22- 20. But that was as close as the Marauders would get on this night.

Ray Burgos took over from there. The quicksilver guard seemingly needed a cape and a big “S” on his chest as he spearheaded the Williamstown effort on both the offensive and defensive displays that were to come.

Seemingly every time you looked up Burgos was storming to the hoop with a layup off a steal, or launching a three point shot that more often than not found it’s mark. The Williamston defensive pressure held Northfield to just four third quarter points and the Blue Devil offense poured through 21 (16 from Ray Burgos) to take a commanding 43-22 lead heading into the final stanza.

Williamstown popped in 21 more in the fourth quarter but they did it in more traditional fashion. The Blue Devils got points from eight different players as the machine moved back to Cruise control. The horse had left the barn by the time Ben Villa canned a free throw in the closing minute for the final Williamstown point. And, the Williamstown machine rolled back over the hill with a 64-40 win and a still unblemished record at 6-0.

In addition to Ray Burgos’ 29 points, Williamstown got 13 from Troy Laughlin, 8 from Mitch St. Onge, and three each from Logan Clark, Nick Gagnon, and Johnny Earls. Ben Villa added a free throw to round out the Blue Devil Scoring.

Zach Daley led all Northfield scorers with eight points, all coming in the fourth quarter. Eli Diebold and Danny Rowe added seven each, got Adam Daley had six for the 1-3 Marauders. Rounding out the Northfield scoring were Tyler Ellis with five and Kevin Hebert had four points.

Ryan Robbins, who played hard under both boards added a free throw for the Marauders.