MARSHFIELD – After racing past Northfield at home to start the week, the Twinfield-Cabot boys basketball team outlasted a tough Division III Oxbow team on the road to run their record to 10-1 on the season.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Eli Russell pumped in a game-high 29 points to lead the Trojans to a 90-44 lopsided home win over Northfield last Tuesday. Tej Stewart complemented with 15 points and Thomas Gouge had a strong 10-point effort in the paint for Twinfield-Cabot. Omar Miksic-Knibb added 10 points and fellow sophomore Azeem Stewart chipped in with nine in the win. Former Hazen Union standout Damian Morrison paced the Marauders with 11 points as they fell to 2-6 on the season.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
“Eli has become a flat-out bucket getter. We ask a lot of him on both ends of the floor and him along with Tej’s improvement of his all-around game over four years, they can be a real headache for opposing teams. The way that Sam Churchill, Thomas Gouge and Sam McLane physically challenge our team in practice has elevated everyone’s game and Zepherin Hebert and Ben Monaco continue to spark us defensively every single game,” said head coach Kris Bador.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Miksic-Knibb had a breakout moment in a big spot on Thursday night, exploding for a career-high 32 points to lead the Trojans to a tough 82-72 road win over Division III Oxbow. Russell orchestrated the offense once again with an efficient 21 points and Azeem Stewart had his best game as a varsity player with 14. Kobin Ellsworth (25 points) had the Olympians in good position, down 40-39 at the break and within four with eight minutes to play, but Miksic-Knibb and the Trojans were too hard to handle down the stretch. Jayden Huntoon added 20 points for Oxbow as they fell to 5-4 after coming into the matchup with impressive wins over reigning state champs Thetford Academy and Danville.
“The two sophomores took a big step this week. Omar is starting to pull things out of his bag that we didn’t even know he had and Azeem gave us some huge minutes off the bench. Oxbow is a physical team but our three bigs in the middle continued to do their thing and we’ll need them to keep anchoring that spot together if we’re going to get where we want to go this season. We’re positioned well at the halfway point in the season, and we need to continue to grow as a group and control what we can control. We have another big test this week and we’re calling on Trojan Nation to come out in droves on Thursday night,” said Bador.
Twinfield-Cabot’s only loss of the season came against crosstown rival Danville on the road late last Month. They’ll get a chance to exact some revenge on Thursday night at home against the Bears. The Trojans will be back on the road next Tuesday in a Mountain League match-up against Blue Mountain.
