BARRE – Coming off their sixth straight Dave Morse Classic (DMC) championship, the Hazen Union boys basketball team handled Peoples Academy (PA) over the weekend, for a second time this season at the Second Annual Winter Solstice Classic.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Sully Laflam scored 18 points and dished out five assists to power Hazen to a 54-39 win over archrival PA on Saturday at the Barre Auditorium. Brendan Moodie kept his hot hand with 16 points. Jameson Lamarre and Ethan Gann combined for 13 more points and 22 rebounds in the win. The Wildcats took a 31-15 advantage into the break and led by as many as 22 late in the second half. Mason Wells paced the Wolves with 17 in the loss, as they fell to 0-4 on the season.
Hazen was coming off a holiday break that saw them dominate PA and Lamoille to capture their sixth DMC championship in nine years. Moodie was the player of the tournament, dropping a career-high 42 points, including seven three-pointers against the Wolves and 15 points, with five assists in the championship game against the Lancers. The senior’s outburst to open the tourney was the third highest in program history.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Moodie sent the Wildcats into the Christmas break the following Monday with a 20-point five assist performance in a 70-38 blitzing of Enosburg in the Cat Den. Laflam continued his solid play with 15 points against the Hornets and Gann flexed his muscles inside with 15 points and 12 boards.
With the DMC and honoring of the Hall of Fame legend’s memory approaching nearly a decade, Wildcat head coach Aaron Hill loves what the tournament represents, what it has grown into, and believes that as more time passes it becomes even more important to remember what Morse meant to the community and Hazen’s sports programs.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
“Starting off the season with this tournament is very special for all of us. Playing well as a team and winning it for a sixth straight season is a great way to honor his memory and what he meant to our community. As time goes by, we are starting to have players come through the program that never physically met Dave, so it’s even more important to me that we continue to grow this tournament, support it, and keep his memory alive,” said Hill.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
With the graduation losses of generational players like Isaiah Baker, Tyler Rivard and Xavier Hill the last five years, most programs would be in rebuild mode. The senior leadership of Moodie, along with a young and relentless supporting cast has the Wildcats sitting at 4-0 however, and Hill likes the energy and selflessness he’s seen from his team to start the year.
“Brendan came into the season in phenomenal shape and is just physically stronger than he was a year ago. His leadership and play have been fantastic and we are so lucky to have him. We’re off to a great start and I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen from this team so far. They’re super coachable and committed to putting team results over individual accolades. We still have some super tough games coming up on our schedule that will really test us, but the work that these kids put in over the summer has really shown up on the court so far. We have a big challenge coming up against Lake Region this week. They are a big and physical team, and it is going to be a huge challenge for us,” said Hill.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Lake Region will visit the Cat Den on Wednesday night, followed by Thetford Academy on Friday, and Oxbow next Monday. All the games can be streamed on Hardwick Community Television, hctv.us.
