Hazen Union held its Second Annual Hardwick Academy night on January 26, by wearing uniforms styled to look like the HA uniforms worn in the ’60s. Pictured (from left): Managers Noah Foster and Trevor Smith, Kobe Smith, Lincoln Hill, Gavin Bell, Jameson Lamarre, Fenton Meyer, Morgan Michaud, Ryan Morrison, Gabriel Michaud, Sullivan Laflam, Xavier Hill and Brendan Moodie.
HARDWICK – After a gritty road win against Lamoille to start their week, the Hazen Union boys’ basketball team dominated Peoples Academy (PA) donning the purple and gold, celebrating the second annual Hardwick Academy Night at the Cat Den.
Xavier Hill led all scorers with 19 points to lead the Wildcats to a tough 46-37 road win over Divisiion II Lamoille last Wednesday. The senior point guard added five rebounds, three assists, and knocked down a three to help Hazen erase a three-point deficit after three quarters.
Freshman Jameson Lamarre chipped in with seven points and Ryan Morrison added six and pulled down seven rebounds in the win.
Hazen Union Junior Wildcat Brendan Moodie heads up the floor past Blair Whitney of Peoples Academy during action at Hazen, January 26. Hazen prevailed 78-26.
Malcolm Ernst led the Lancers with 11, including a trio of three-pointers that gave the home team a 9-3 lead after the first and a 26-23 advantage with eight minutes to play.
The loss dropped Lamoille to 6-6 on the season. It was the second game in three contests that head coach Aaron Hill’s potent Wildcat offense was held under 50 points, and he wants to see his team on the attack more with some tough matchups coming up to close out the regular season.
“We are adding a couple new sets to our offense and I’m looking for players to be a little more aggressive. We want to look to attack more and play with an increased sense of urgency,” said Hill.
Brendan Moodie scored a team-high 14 points, including a pair of threes to lead Hazen Union to a 78-26 home romp of PA on Hardwick Academy Night last Friday.
Xavier Hill (13-12-11 assists) recorded his third triple-double of the season, giving him two more than any other player in program history.
Sophomore Sully Laflam broke out of a scoring lull with 13 points for the Terriers and Lamarre connected on a pair of threes to add 12 points in the win.
Morgan Michaud chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds and Morrison hauled down 10 boards of his own to help Hazen complete a 3-0 sweep of the Wolves on the season.
Camden Strong led PA with eight points and Blair Whitney knocked down a three in the loss, as the Wolves fell to 1-10 on the season.
Hazen improved to 11-2 and hangs on to the second seed in the current Divisiion III standings. Thetford Academy remains on top at 11-1, with White River Valley (12-1), Richford (11-2), and Winooski (9-3) rounding out the top five.
“Hardwick Academy Night is always a special night for us. The players love putting on the purple and gold to compete against Peoples Academy. We have some of our toughest games of the year in the last stretch of the season, so we need to continue to get offensive contributions from everyone,” said Hill.
The Wildcats have a pair of Divisiion II Capital League match-ups this week, traveling to U-32 on Wednesday and will stay on the road for an afternoon clash with Montpelier on Saturday.
