MARSHFIELD – A shorthanded Twinfield-Cabot boys basketball team used all resources last week to gut out a heavy weight divisional win over crosstown rival Danville, improving to 11-1 on the season.
The Trojans poured in 11 three-pointers, with the biggest coming from Sam McLane in overtime to outlast Danville at home last Thursday 66-65. McLane atoned for missing a pair of free throws late in regulation with his team up three and the chance to ice the game. Danville instead grabbed the rebound and raced down court, resulting in frenetic scrum that ended in a desperation heave from Khol Guinard at the buzzer that touched nothing but net. It was the same Guinard who broke the hearts of the Twinfield-Cabot faithful with a last second floater last March in an instant classic at the Barre Auditorium on their way to the Division IV state title. The script was flipped on Thursday as the Trojans survived three free throws from Jackson Giroux with 1.1 ticks on the clock in overtime to even the season series at 1-1. Twinfield-Cabot won despite having their senior leader Tej Stewart in street clothes with a leg injury and head coach Kris Bador loved how his team responded from suffering their only loss of the season to the Bears five weeks ago.
“We had a great practice going into this matchup and the boys used the humbling we all took from the December 23 loss as fuel. We are going through some key injuries right now and we knew we would have to make some adjustments with Tej not being able to be out there. The read that Eli made in overtime as he kicked it out to Sam in the corner gave us our first lead in OT and it just shows how unselfish we are as a group. As a coach, you watch one of your senior leaders miss a pair of free throws with 10 seconds play and then watch Guinard do it to your team again at the buzzer. To see Sam’s teammates pick him up in the huddle and then watch him drain the biggest shot of the game in OT makes you see what these kids are all about and makes you proud to have the opportunity to coach them,” said Bador.
Sophomore Omar Miksic-Knibb led the way for the Trojans with 16 points, Eli Russell complimented with 14, Zepherin Hebert added 13 and Azeem Stewart (nine points) drained a trio of big threes on the night. Sebastian Eldred led all scorers with 25 points for the Bears and Guinard (five triples) finished with 22. Despite having some bigtime wins on their resume this season, Danville fell to 6-6 and out of the top eight in the current divisional rankings. The Trojans currently sit in the No. 2 spot behind undefeated West Rutland, with Twin Valley and Williamstown rounding out the top four. Bador and Trojan Nation are keeping their fingers crossed their star senior will be able to return before the end of the regular season.
“Tej is such a hard-working young man, and we are hoping for the best. This is something this group has been through before and we’ll continue to approach things one game at a time. These kids are special and trust me when I say we are not done!! This team has the heart of a true Trojan, and they’ll be ready to battle every time they lace them up. They are going to get the same effort from me. I’m going to do everything in my power to continue to improve this team as a coach and a teacher to get this team back to Barre,” said Bador.
Twinfield-Cabot traveled to Blue Mountain on Tuesday and will make the long trip to Bennington the very next night to take on Grace Christian. They’ll stay on the road for a Mountain League match-up with Richford next Tuesday.
