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Adams comes up big as Wellsboro wins thriller at Montoursville

By Chris Masse 7 min read

Sometimes Conner Adams is a scorer. Sometimes, the senior point guard is a facilitator, and sometimes he ignites the defense.

Adams basically is anything Wellsboro needs him to be. It is that way in baseball and football, too. And that versatility made a huge difference Monday night as Wellsboro opened its season with a thrilling opening night road win.

Adams did a bit of everything, scoring a game-high 18 points, dealing six assists and grabbing five rebounds as Wellsboro edged Montoursville on its home court, 46-45. Peyton McClure (13 points) hit the front end of a 1-and-1 with 11.8 seconds remaining to break a 45-45 tie and the defense forced a difficult 3-point shot at the buzzer which sailed wide as Wellsboro won a game which featured three fourth quarter lead changes in dramatic fashion.

“It’s nice knowing the game is kind of on you, so you kind of just have to step up and play,” Adams said. “I’ve gotten more comfortable. They always bring fans against us, so I’m kind of used to the atmosphere.”

Adams and McClure have seven years’ worth of starting experience in the backcourt. It showed Monday as both provided the glue which held things together, settling Wellsboro whenever Montoursville started heating up. McClure helped Wellsboro start strong and Adams played the closer, repeatedly making clutch plays throughout the second half and, especially, in the fourth quarter.

Montoursville (0-1) turned a six-point third quarter deficit into a 34-32 lead entering the fourth, but Adams opened that final quarter with a go-ahead 3-pointer. Bryce Eberhart (11 points) countered with a trey, but Adams tied it with a running floater and ignited a 6-0 run. His offensive rebound set up Caden Smith to find Hayes Campbell for the lead and Adams then found Smith inside, making it 41-37.

After Montoursville tied it 41-41, Adams beat his defender to the basket, drew a double team and hit a cutting Campbell for a layup. Adams’ final basket gave Wellsboro a 45-43 lead and he played super defense over the final 11 seconds. All this on a night when Adams played all 32 minutes and only grew stronger against a deep team which utilized 12 players.

“Conner is a four-year starter and he’s not a giant by any stretch but he has a giant heart. He’s a competitor and he’s going to fight to the end and the team kind of responded just like him,” Wellsboro coach Steve Adams said. “They battled to the end and Conner made some big plays. The moment wasn’t too big for him, and I thought when he needed to be, as a point guard, he was a steady for us for out there.”

Conner Adams produced his best season a year ago, helping Wellsboro win 17 games. His scoring average increased, and he became a more potent offensive weapon. Adams is able to stretch a defense with his outside shooting or hurt it with his penetration, either by finishing or finding the open teammate. He did all that against Montoursville and helped Wellsboro take a 25-23 halftime lead by finding McClure for an NBA-range, buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

“A lot of memories came back from last year against Southern Columbia (in districts),” Conner Adams said. “I had a lot of points in that game late, so I just kind of decided that I’m a senior and I have to take over and put the ball in the hoop.”

While Adams and McClure did the bulk of the scoring, Wellsboro received contributions throughout its rotation. Campbell and Cameron Brought helped the Hornets control the post and each grabbed 10 rebounds. Smith made two of the three shots he took and looked good in his first start, while Ian Hoose provided quality minutes off the bench.

Montoursville started pressing Wellsboro in the third quarter and, with the depth advantage, it felt like the Hornets might grow fatigued. But that never happened, and Wellsboro was as spry defending the basket over those final 11 seconds as it was when the game started. Wellsboro had two fouls to give and used them wisely with Adams stopping Quinn Ranck from driving in for a potential layup. McClure nearly made a steal with two seconds remaining and Ranck was forced to try a shot from well beyond the arc, giving it a good attempt but sending it just to the left.

“It was a total team win. If one guy doesn’t play well, we probably don’t get that game,” Steve Adams said. “That’s a great win because Montoursville has a lot of talent on their team. They can shoot the ball and take the ball to the hoop, so it challenged us defensively. We’re not extremely deep at this point of the season, so we have to mix and match and play smart and our guys did a good job of that.”

Montoursville honored football coach Mike Boughton who passed away from cancer last month by wearing special warm-up jerseys featuring the No. 77 which Boughton wore during a decorated scholastic career at his alma mater. Montoursville coach Mark Mussina also started the team’s five football players, Matthew Conklin, Bryce Eberhart, Jimmy Mussina, Todd Crawford and Wyatt Fry, as a tribute, pulling those five out as one after a few minutes.

It also was a White Out night and a boisterous crowd cheered on Montoursville as it nearly produced a Hollywood-type ending. The Warriors fought hard and tied the game three times over the final three minutes, the final time on Eberhart’s drive with 21 seconds remaining. McClure’s clutch foul shot nine seconds later, however, proved the difference.

“It kind of came to me a couple days ago that on our roster we had five football players and I thought it would be a cool idea if we started them. It was kind of like Senior Night except it was Boughton Night. We thought it was the right thing to do,” Mussina said. “This was our first home sporting event since he passed away, so we thought it was appropriate. We tried to get a win for him, and we just came up short.”

Montoursville, though, revealed its potential. This is a new-look team after last year’s was senior-laden, but there is an exciting blend of size, quickness and shooters. Eight of the 12 players Mussina used scored and several made shots at key times. That included Conklin, the football team’s leading rusher, who hustled all night and scored nine points, making four of his six shots. Conklin scored inside, tying the game 43-43 with a minute remaining.

Ranck scored eight points and his assist to Connor Imbro capped an 11-2 run which put Montoursville up 34-31 late in the third quarter. Eberhart and Wyatt Fry each had five rebounds and freshman Shea Ulmer hit a key 3-pointer after Wellsboro had taken a five-point second quarter lead.

“We have so many kids who can contribute,” Mussina said. “What we have to do is figure out what the rotations are, who should get how many minutes and things like that.”

WELLSBORO (46)

Conner Adams 7 2-2 18, Peyton McClure 4 2-4 13, Hayes Campbell 4 0-0 8, Cameron Brought 1 0-0 2, Caden Smith 2 0-0 5, Ian Hoose 0 0-0 0, Marek Mascho 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 4-6 46.

MONTOURSVILLE (45)

Bryce Eberhart 5 0-0 11, Quinn Ranck 3 0-0 8, Matthew Conklin 4 0-0 9, Wyatt Fry 2 0-0 4, Todd Crawford 0 0-0 0, Gavin Cott 2 0-0 4, Jimmy Mussina 0 0-0 0, Nason Tran 0 0-0 0, Conner Imbro 1 0-2 2, Shea Ulmer 1 0-0 3, Tanner Menne 2 0-2 4, Chase Snyder 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 0-4 45.

Wellsboro 10 15 7 14ä46

Montoursville 10 13 11 11ä45

3-pointers: Wellsboro 6 (McClure 3, Adams 2, Smith); Montoursville 5 (Ranck 2, Eberhart, Conklin, Ulmer).

Records: Wellsboro 1-0. Montoursville 0-1.

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