HARDWICK – The Hazen Union boys basketball team’s six year dominance of the Dave Morse Classic came to an end last week at the hands of an up and coming Lamoille Lancer program.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Brayden Lafountain led a balanced attack with 15 points as Lamoille rallied to defeat Hazen 61-54 to take home the hardware in the 10th annual Dave Morse Classic. The Lancers took a 31-26 lead into the break but found themselves down 6 midway through the third as Hazen’s Jameson Lamarre began to heat up. The junior drilled a pair of threes on his way to a career-high 28 point night. Lamoille cut the lead to 41-40 with eight minutes to play and used a physical defense and some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to pull the upset. Jackson Hoag (13 points), James Wallace (12) and Isaac Schroeder (11) rounded out Lamoille’s top scorers. Senior Sully Laflam added 11 points for the Wildcats in the loss.
“We battled but never played with any kind of offensive flow,” said head coach Aaron Hill. “Their physical play got us out of sync and as a result, we became very unorganized. We will go to work and get back to our more typical ball movement where we get more people involved offensively and play with a better rhythm,”
photo by Vanessa Fournier
In round one Hazen fended off archrival Peoples Academy (PA) 58-55 behind a career-high 20 points from junior Lincoln Hill. The Wildcats enjoyed a 28-19 lead at the break and a seven point edge heading into the fourth, but had to withstand a flurry from PA’s Jack Lafayette. The senior guard scored 18 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth, including a fall away three to cut the lead to one with five seconds to play. Hill calmly sank a pair of clutch free throws to give Hazen a three-point cushion and Lafayette’s long three at the buzzer missed the mark. Williamstown downed PA 67-58 in the consolation game behind Alex Clark’s 20 points. Lafayette paced the Wolves with 24.
It was another electric atmosphere with high level basketball honoring the memory of the late, great, Dave Morse. Fans from all four schools packed the Cat Den on both Wednesday and Friday night, affirming once again that the decade long tournament commemorating the hall of fame journalist’s name is truly one of the best high school basketball tournaments played in the state.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
“This year’s tournament was one of the best we have had. Lamoille is one of the top teams in Division II, Williamstown is a top two team in Division IV and PA certainly showed they are a serious contender in our division this year. Every game was close and exciting. We had a full house both nights with an awesome atmosphere, and may have been the largest attendance in tournament history. It was such a wonderful way to honor Dave,” said Hill.
Hazen hosted Enosburg on Tuesday, Dec. 23, and traveled to Vergennes, December 29. The Wildcats will head to the Barre Auditorium, January 3, to square off against Peoples Academy in the Winter Solstice. All home games can be streamed live on Hardwick Community Television (hctv.us).
