HARDWICK – The Hazen Union boys basketball team survived their toughest week of the early season with a buzzer beating win against Lake Region before fading late against Thetford Academy.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
Senior Brendan Moodie completed a double digit fourth quarter comeback with a game-winning corner-three with time running down, propelling the Wildcats to an improbable 52-51 home win over Lake Region last Wednesday. Moodie’s twentieth point of the night sent the Cat Den into a frenzy, fading away in the right corner with 1.1 seconds left in regulation, leaving the Rangers stunned. It was the fourth triple of the game for the point guard, who finished off the comeback fueled mostly by freshman Jameson Lamarre’s career high 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Jeffrey Coe led Lake Region with 16 in the loss as they fell to 5-3.
Hazen head coach Aaron Hill loved the resilience of his young team, who fought back to earn the win despite being without starters Ethan Gann and Morgan Michaud.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
“Lake Region is a big physical team and for us to dig in and fight back to get that win the way we did shorthanded, shows just how tough and gritty these kids are. We’re a totally different team this season and they’ve probably surpassed a lot of other people’s expectations already, but we have an extremely tough schedule still ahead of us and there’s a lot of work left to do,” said Hill.
Thetford Academy showed why they’re defending Division III champs on Friday, pulling away late to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season 49-39. Hunter Clay led the Panthers with 16 and Dillon Vance added 15 as the visitors led wire-to-wire, improving to 5-1. Hazen was down as many as 12 and whittled a 25-18 halftime deficit down to a single point in the fourth quarter before running out of gas. Moodie and Gann led the Wildcats with 11, Laflam added eight, and Michaud pulled down a team-high eight rebounds in the loss. Hazen donned the colors of the purple and gold Terriers on Hardwick Academy Night.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
“They’re a very experienced defensive team, returning five seniors, including their sixth man off the bench. Fighting back to make it a one-point game in the fourth is a positive we can take away and we are far from developing into the team we can be by the end of the season. Thetford’s experience in the final minutes was the difference in the game, but we still face them one more time in the regular season, so there is a lot of things we can work on and implement as a team between now and then. I like where our team is at and there is still a long way to go,” said Hill.
Hill’s squad sits at 5-1, ranked #2 in the current Division III standings behind White River Valley. The Wildcats looked to get back on track against Oxbow on Monday and will hit the road for matchups against Harwood and Randolph on Friday and Saturday. All home games can be streamed live on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).