MARSHFIELD – A brutally tough schedule hasn’t gotten in the way of winning for Twinfield-Cabot head coach Kris Bador and his varsity boys basketball team, as they ran their winning streak to four games last week with a win over a stout Division III Richford squad.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
Eli Russell led the way with 15 points and Zepherin Hebert scored 14 as the Trojans ended Richford’s six game winning streak with a 63-55 home win Friday night. Thomas Gouge added 11 tough points inside, including three straight field goals down the stretch to help seal the win.
“Since Sam Churchill went down with an injury earlier this season, Thomas has been our muscle in the middle, and he continues to play great on both ends of the floor. Tej Stewart has transitioned to help underneath with his size, a great offensive and defensive skillset, and he and Thomas have worked well together, willing to do anything the team needs to be successful. Eli’s leadership is becoming contagious the way he can hurt teams with his shooting or passing. He’s also so unselfish and we have to continue to remind him to shoot the ball. He’s just an all-around great player and leader, coming in ready to work every single day,” said Bador.
Stewart fought through early foul trouble to finish with 9 points, and freshman Omar Miksic-Knibb chipped in with another 9, while continuing to be a force on the defensive end.
Jerrick Jacobs led the Falcons with 22 and Bobby Gendron added 8 in the loss as they fell to 7-2.

photo by Vanessa Fournier
“Zepherin and Omar have been playing top notch defense for us, helping Tej and Thomas on the glass, while giving us added scoring balance as a team. Sam McLane’s minutes continues to rise adding even more balance to our team, and Ben Monaco, Oliver Searles, Wyatt Bickford, Azeem Stewart and Brennen Nagle have brought some much-needed energy, size, shooting and defense off the bench in crucial situations,” said Bador.
The Trojans have handled powerhouses Williamstown, Danville and Richford during their four-game run and have vaulted themselves to the No. 2 seed in the current Division IV standings. Top seeded West Rutland sits atop the division at 10-1, with Twin Valley, Danville and defending champion Grace Christian rounding out the top five. With little letup to a rugged Mountain League schedule and a home date with Grace Christian looming next month, Bador realizes the road to Barre is a marathon and not a sprint for his young team.
“As you play later in any sports season, windows for mistakes get smaller and attention to detail to the little things become crucial. I couldn’t be more proud of the entire program with how the boys handle themselves on and off the floor. We can live with starting 8-2 with the schedule we’ve had, but Barre in March is where we want to be with this very special group of young men. We’ll be back in the lab this week to continue to work on the little things to improve over the next 10 games,” said Bador.
Twinfield-Cabot will be tested again this week with a tough road matchup against Winooski on Friday night.