ATHOL — Things weren’t looking good going into the fourth quarter for the Mahar boys basketball team against rival Athol on Tuesday. 

The Senators trailed an unbeaten Bears squad 42-32 going into the final eight minutes, but Mahar saved its best for last. 

The Sens opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 42-41. Athol’s Ethan Bacigalupo knocked down a free throw with 3:18 to play for the Bears’ first points of the frame, but Jayden Delgado responded with a basket for Mahar that tied the game at 43 with three minutes to play. 

Delgado and Athol’s Angelo Castillo traded baskets before Will Barnes got to the line and made both and Delgado attacked the rim for two, giving Mahar a 49-45 lead with one minute to play. 

Bacigalupo got a steal and made the layup to cut the lead to 49-47 with 30 seconds to play but Morgan Softic and Barnes made key free throws down the stretch, allowing the Senators pull out a come-from-behind 54-49 victory at Mallet Gymnasium. 

Mahar outscored Athol 22-7 in the fourth quarter. 

“In the fourth quarter we defended with a sense of urgency,” Senators coach Chad Softic said. “We showed some toughness and did enough in the fourth quarter. Any time you hold a team to seven points in the fourth quarter is good. It’s similar to that Drury game earlier in the year. Take nothing away from Athol. That’s a good basketball team and Brian [Patria] is doing a great job with them. We just do a lot of self inflicted things that hurt us.” 

The loss was the first of the season for Athol (5-1), though Patria said there’s a long season to go and all of the Bears’ goals are still in front of them. 

“I always try to stay positive,” Patria said. “There’s plenty of things we can build off from this game. We just need to make sure we don’t have it defeat us totally. This isn’t the end of the season. It’s a little humble pie. We can’t let this define us. We have plenty of season left. We’ll regroup from this and be a better team for it.” 

Mahar (5-1) opened the game on an 8-2 run behind baskets from Delgado, Barnes and a 3 from Daniel Finch. 

Athol closed the first quarter on a 16-4 run, sprung by a personal 7-0 run from Castillo while Ben Kearney, Aaron Ouellet and Ethan Bacigalupo added baskets to help give the Bears an 18-12 lead after one quarter. 

Athol kept its foot on the gas to open the second quarter. Kearney knocked down a 3 before Ouellet and Kearney got inside for two to give the Bears a 25-13 lead. 

Following a pair of Chad Softic timeouts, the Sens turned things around. Barnes and Marshall Ames each scored a pair of baskets while the Mahar defense got the stops it needed to go on an 8-0 run to help cut the lead Athol lead to 27-21 at the intermission. 

The Bears took control in the third quarter. Kearney knocked down a 3 and followed it up by getting to the rim for a pair of buckets that gave Athol a 34-25 lead. The Bears got to the line and made their free throws to extend the lead to 42-28 but Ames and Barnes scored to close the quarter for the Sens, cutting the Athol lead to 42-32 going into the fourth quarter. 

“Our recognition against Kearney and Castillo was not very good,” Softic said. “We’re so worried about other things that we aren’t focused on the two biggest threats they have. We were lackadaisical and have stretches where we’re undisciplined and lack basketball IQ. We’re lucky again tonight to find a way to win against a very good Athol team.” 

Delgado and Barnes each scored 17 points for Mahar. Ames finished with eight points, Softic scored seven points while Isrow tallied five points in the win. 

Kearney scored a game-high 22 points while Castillo chipped in 13 points, Bacigalupo and Ouellet each had five points while Ray Castine tallied four points for Athol.