MARSHFIELD – Silver linings, what could’ve been, and fuel for the future is what head coach Kris Bador’s Twinfield-Cabot boys basketball team will take from watching Danville cut down the nets at the Aud after a gut-wrenching one-point loss to that same Bears team in the semifinal round two weeks ago.
In just his second year on the sidelines at Twinfield-Cabot, Bador’s senior-less Trojans skyrocketed from 10 wins a season ago to 19-4 this winter and the No. 2 seed in the Division IV state tournament. His young and athletic ball club beat all comers in a top-heavy division, carrying an 11-game win streak into their Final Four match-up against crosstown rival Danville. Championship experience, free throws, and literally a bounce of the basketball was the only difference between the two evenly-matched teams in what was ultimately a 48-47 win by Danville. Bador and his young team are left with an off-season of what could have been after holding the ball and the lead late with a trip to the title game on the line. Now he’s focusing on what that experience could mean for his program as they prepare for a season that will come with expectations to get over the hump next March.
“It was a great year. Everyone measures success differently. We gave Danville everything we had and when we came up just short, I shook Coach Brigham’s hand and wished him nothing but success going forward. We share the same A.D. in Randy Rathburn, most of these kids play together on the same team on the soccer field, and they have been extremely supportive of our program. I’m happy for them and for the kids. They did a great job of speeding us up in the crucial moments of that game, but we had a chance at the end and that’s all you can ask for. I stand behind my kids and that’s exactly what I told them after the game. Danville has a lot of games under their belt at the Aud like that and it showed in how they executed down the stretch. It was a great ride this season and we all enjoyed the heck out of it. In the end, it is just a basketball game. We have a great group of kids here at Twinfield-Cabot and the class in which they handled that loss is going to help them develop into great men who contribute to society,” said Bador.
Bador returns his entire team next season, as well as injured starting big man Sam Churchill, and a new wave of upcoming talented freshmen. Point guard Eli Russell had a breakout junior season leading the team in scoring, fellow junior Tej Stewart earned his third consecutive Vermont Outstanding Underclassmen selection, and freshman Omar Miksic-Knibb is going to be a force in the Mountain League on both sides of the ball for years to come.
Bador realizes that his team will no longer be the hunter next winter after a 19-win season, but the mental makeup of his team has him already excited to get back to work for next season. “This is just such a great group of kids that along with our coaching staff, have made the locker room their extended family. I love them and they return that love with all the countless hours they put in on and off the court. The way Eli and Tej learned to play at a high level off of one another this season was a joy to watch and that is only going to further develop. Omar took on multiple 1,000-point scorers in the Mountain League all season long and I just can’t say enough about the drive that kid has. We truly became a team this season and we’re going to focus on getting fully healthy and then continue to get kids time together on the court in AAU and summer league in the off-season,” said Bador. “These boys continue to help us build this program in a positive way. I feel super blessed and happy to have the opportunity to coach them and I can’t say enough about how much the community got behind our run this season. It meant everything. We can’t wait to get back at it and attack every game one at a time next season and see where we end up in the end. In the words of the great Dan Hurley, ‘Better get us now.’”
