MOUNTIES EARN D-II Hoop Title #1
By; Gregory Thayer, CMG Sports
VSN.com Staff Writer
BARRE - The Barre AUD was rock’in Saturday as the Vermont boys basketball championship games are being played there. Division II, III and IV are all on for today.
The division two state Championship game is putting No. 1 Vergennes UHS vs. No. 2 Mount St. Joseph Academy. These teams did not meet during the regular season, so this has the making of a great HS basketball game.
The 21-2 Mounties got the tipoff and were off to a good start running the court advancing the ball up 3-0, then Vergennes went on a 9-0 run that Vergennes capitalize and went up by as many as 8-9 points. MSJ Coach Benetatos called a much needed timeout and settled his players down. The Mounties came out patient and controlled and play a whole lot better.
John Dewey (12 pts, 3 steals and 3 assist) and Shannon Murray (13 pts, 7 rebs ) were all over the court for the Mounties making offensive and defensive plays. Jaskin Melendez (5 pts, 9 rebs) was super underneath for the Mounties, and Robert Cassell (6 pts and tenacious defense) Matt Sanborn (10 pts) and a great game all around for the Mounties. Jahnathan Mitchell scored 4 pts and great play making from the point and David Perry great defense. MSJ Sophomore Zach Lanzillo hit 2 key 3-pointers in the 1st half that sparked the Mounties.
Vergennes looked good in the first half playing hard and giving the Mounties fits. MSJ maintained their composure, fought back and taking control of the game. Vergennes Head Coach Peter Quinn had his kids ready to play and the kept coming back even to the end. The Commodores were led by Junior Shep Carter with 15 points and they had a balanced attack with 7 players scoring in single digits. They drew three offensive fouls against MSJ in the third quarter that did not phase the Mounties as they kept coming putting points on the board and between the teams.
The Mounties shot 22 for 48 from floor at 45.8%, while Vergennes shot 60.6% (20 for 33). MSJ committed 14 turnovers to Vergennes 16, and the Mounties out rebounded the Commodores 38 to 20. The Mounties look championship like today playing well together and exhibiting their quickness, speed and talent. Coach Benetatos kept his players focused and composed. Congratulations to the Mounties and the Vergennes Commodores in a great season!
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Boys D-I hoop title game set:
No. 2 Rice vs. No. 1 MMU Thursday at UVM
By Gregory Thayer, CMG Sports
VSN.Com Staff Writer
Burlington -- A great night of boys High School basketball from the campus of the University of Vermont's in Patrick’s Gymnasium, the site of the Vermont D-I High School Boys Basketball Semi-Finals. In game one of Division I, top seed (No. 1) Mount Mansfield UHS played No 4 Brattleboro. And in the second game of the evening, with tip-off at 7:30pm, No. 2 Rice Memorial faced off against their southern rival No. 3 Rutland High School
Mount Mansfield wins a thriller in 2 OT in Boys HS Semi-Final
In game one Brattleboro and Mount Mansfield took the fans right to the brink of their seats with a Mount Mansfield 64 – 54 double overtime win over No. 4 Brattleboro tonight at UVM. The game was like watching a see-sawing and flopping scoring throughout the game. At the half Brattleboro lead 20-19 and at the end of three quarters of play MMU was up 28-27. Everyone in the gym held-on to their seats for the 4th quarter ride!
The game continued on its path of trading scores as the fourth quarter’s minutes passed in the history books. Brattleboro up 39-34 until a MMU out of bounds play and an ally-oop pass inside to MMU’s big man Eric Suder (25 pts, 12 rebs, 5 blocks) hit it to make it 39-36 with 1:11 remaining in regulation play. Brattleboro started to stall the ball and did a good job for 30 seconds when a pass inside to Jay Vinci (18 pts, 11 rebs) missed a key shot under the hoop. The teams went back-in-forth a bit, and MMU missed a 3 pointer. Brattleboro came down the court working it around until MMU fouled Tommy Heydinger (7 pts, 10 rebs 4 steals) who missed the front-end of a one-one with 4 second remaining and MMU secured the rebound and rushed the ball up court with a couple of passes and MMU Sr. guard TJ Wesson (11 pts, 3 assist, 2 steals) hit a last second three-plus pointer from downtown off the glass to send the game into overtime.
The first OT went back-in-forth as did regulation play, until the end. Inside of 20 second MMU was up in the final seconds 46-44 and made free throw. Brattleboro rushed the ball up the court and Sr. Soren Pelz-Walsh (10 pts, 9 rebs, 8 assist and a steal) took it to the hole and hit a layup right down the middle tying the game at 46’s as time expired and into our second overtime. MMU’s Eric Suder was on in the extra-time of play hitting 2 old-fashion 3 point scoring plays and MMU walked away with a 64-54 win. The 2nd OT was all MMU.
Brattleboro had their opportunities in regulation to advance to the title game Thursday night, they played hard and hung in tight with the best rated HS boys team in the state. Great season Colonels! This is the first double OT since 1935!
Rice Memorial cruise to a 62-45 win to advance to the title game!
In game two of the evening in the D-I Semi-Finals it was Rice Memorial over the RUTLAND HIGH Raiders 62-45. A different tempo of a game then game one as the Green Knights went out on to top early and never look back. Rice had all their engines on leading early and controlling the tempo of the game throughout. RUTLAND played hard keeping the game within 4 to 9 points in the first half, but in the second half Rice maintained a 9 to 14 point lead.
Rice’s Jr. Casey Tipson (12 pts, 4 assist, 3 steals) was tough all over the court quarterbacking his team well, as was Rice big-man Senior’s Jake Maynard (18 pts, 8 reb) and Tim Rensch (12 pts, 14 pts, 3 steals).
RUTLAND offensively shot 33.3% from the floor in the first half and 54.5% in the second half and 45% all game. RUTLAND had 15 turnovers to Rice’s 12, and Rice out rebounded the RAIDERS 36 to 20. Rice only shot 43.2% from the floor all night.
Rice had three players in double digits: Tipson, Maynard, Rensch and Willingham, while Fitzgerald added 9. Patrick O’Rourke (14 pts, and 3 steals) and Tre Hysell (14 pts, and extra hustle on defense) lead RUTLAND scoring with 14 apiece.
No 2 Rice Memorial and No 1 Mt. Mansfield will face off in the D-I Championship game Thursday night right from here at at UVM’s Patrick Gym.
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The VERMONT View
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