MARSHFIELD – The Twinfield-Cabot boys basketball team continued to build the resume of a title contender last week, pummeling Northfield and Oxbow before capping off a huge week with a dominant performance against defending Division IV champion Grace Christian.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Eli Russell poured in 19 points and dished out five assists to lead the Trojans to a 70-31 blowout home win over Northfield last Monday. Tej Stewart complimented him with 17 points, 11 boards, and eight assists. Zepherin Hebert added 12 points, and freshman Omar Miksic-Knibb chipped in with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists in the win.
The Marauders continue to search for that elusive first win of the season.
Russell (21 points) and the Trojans kept their foot on the gas Wednesday night, racing past Oxbow at home 80-45. Hebert kept the hot hand with 17 points, Stewart continued to do a little bit of everything with eight points, nine boards and 10 assists. Thomas Gouge and Miksic-Knibb combined for 18 more points in the win. Ben Monach was strong off the bench with a team-high 10 rebounds for Twinfield-Cabot. Head coach Kris Bador cited his team’s growth in their second matchup with the Olympians after escaping with a three-point win in Bradford earlier this season.
“We started off the week the right way against a very young Northfield team still trying to find their way. It gave us a chance to work on some new plays and test my guy’s IQ on-the-fly in game situations. We had a close battle with Oxbow at their place and we came in really focused on doing a better job on them defensively. My assistant coaches put a great game plan in, and the boys did a great job executing. Zepherin was all over the place for us on the defensive end. The passion that he brings to that side of the ball is something myself and my staff are extremely proud of. Eli was on point once again and Thomas and Tej cleaned up the glass all night long. It was a great team effort and win,” said Bador.
The Trojans made it four straight on Friday night behind Stewart (23 points) and Russell (22), taking down reigning Division IV champion Grace Christian at home 74-50. Stewart punished the Lions with 13 points in the second quarter to help build a 22-point cushion at the break and the Trojans never looked back. Gouge was tough inside once again for Twinfield-Cabot with 12 points and seven rebounds and Hebert continued to contribute on both sides of the ball with 15 points. Pavle Mikic led Grace Christian with 18 and Petar Saranovic chipped in with 11 in the loss as they fell to 9-6. The Trojans improved to 12-3 and are ranked third in the current Division IV standings.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Bador’s talented young team does not have a senior on the roster and now own wins this season against contenders from multiple divisions in Twin Valley, Danville, Williamstown, the Lions and Richford.
“We watched film on them, talked about matchups with the guys, and rolled the dice a little bit against a quality team like that. We got huge efforts from our starting five as well as big contributions from Sam McLane and Ben Monaco off the bench. We knew they wouldn’t go away easy in the second half after a big second quarter from Tej and the guys stayed calm and poised throughout their third quarter runs. Eli and Zepherin answered every run they threw at us in the second half and I love how tight knit and family like this team is in the stressful moments of big games like this. We have multiple teams fighting for the top four seeds and we just have to continue to control what we can control, take it on one game at a time, and just play. The schedule doesn’t get any easier and its crazy to say, but our game against a very good Richford team this week will be our biggest yet!” said Bador.
The Trojans traveled to Division III contender Richford on Monday and are scheduled to host Stowe on Friday night.
