For anyone following Vermont basketball this year, the Bellows Falls/White River Valley matchup had as much intrigue as any. Two teams vying for top seeds in their division riding impressive win streaks and both coming into Thursday’s contest with 10 wins. In the end, the Terriers had one more play then their opponents and they earned a play-off like 56-52 win.
“That was a ball game,” said Coach Chadwick. “Physical, gritty and down to the wire, both teams gave the fans a treat tonight.”
White River jumped out early scoring the first 8 points as BF struggled to hit from mid-range.
Jonathan Terry got the scoring going off an offensive rebound and, from there the Terriers scored the last 8 points of the quarter to take a 10-8 lead.
The Wildcats would take it to BF in the second, as the purple and white offense went stagnant. With two minutes remaining, WRV held a 10 point lead at 24-14.
“We got sloppy offensively in the second,” said Chadwick. “Our game plan was to push the tempo, we didn’t and that let them (WRV) dictate the pace.”
Despite the offensive struggles, the Terriers were able to hang in defensively and, in the last minute, two Jamison Nystrom jumpers narrowed the Wild Cat lead to 5 at the half.
The third saw the Wildcats take a four point lead with less than a minute to go. The Terriers would score four points in 5 seconds, the first two courtesy of a Walker James steal and finish and then Pat Barbour stole the inbounds pass and laid it in to tie the contest at 41 a piece entering the final frame.
The Wildcats were looking to take some control after they hit two threes that saw them take a 3 point lead at 49-52 and had possession the basketball with 2 minutes to go.
Jack Cravinho would not let WRV eat the clock, as he picked off a pass, drew a foul and hit two free throws to close the gap to 1.
WRV again would try to nurse the clock, drawing BF outside in the hopes of drawing a foul. On this occasion, Jonathan Terry was the thief de-jour, picking up a loose ball and finishing to give the Terriers a 1 point lead.
“I don’t know what happened or how it happened,” said Chadwick. “Bottom line, J.T. made a play.”
After forcing a Wildcat turnover on their next possession, WRV would foul Jackson Goodell who calmly sunk two free throws. The Wildcats tying 3 rimmed out and Goodell added another free-throw that sealed the deal and gave the Terriers their 11th win on the season.
Four Terriers finished in double figures: Goodell had 13, Owen LaRoss added 12, Nystrom tallied 11 and Terry contributed 10.
The Terriers (11-3) are next in action on Saturday as they travel to Poultney to face off with the Blue Devils. JV tips at 11 and varsity follows at 12:30.
Bellows Falls Basketball 