NORTHFIELD – After a rolling past Northfield to start the week, the Twinfield-Cabot boys’ basketball team stumbled in the second half against Williamstown and gave up a fourth quarter lead to defending Division III champ Winooski, falling to 5-7 on the season.
Senior Meles Gouge scored a team-high 16 points to power the Trojans to a 50-34 road win over Northfield last Monday. Gouge also dished out five assists and recorded three steals in the win.
Kane Knapp led the Marauders with 17, but it wasn’t enough as they dropped their twelfth straight game of the season.
It was a good road win for the shorthanded Trojans, who were without leading scorer Tej Stewart and seniors Dominick Hale and Eli Russell.
Evan Bailey filled up the box score with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists to power Williamstown to a 59-43 home win over the Trojans last Wednesday.
Stewart returned from injury to score 16 points and help Twinfield-Cabot hold a 23-18 lead at the break.
Colby Laggner’s 10 points and 12 rebounds helped fuel a 29-14 Blue Devil run in the first eight minutes of the third quarter to retake the lead for good.
Sam Russell added 12 points in the loss for the Trojans. Cooper Sumner chipped in with 11 for Williamstown as they improved to 7-4.
“We still have a couple of guys battling injuries and I do feel that when we get back to 100 percent healthy, we will be able to get five or six games under our belt together down the stretch. I’m super proud of the growth from our younger guys and of the leadership our upperclassmen have provided,” said head coach Kris Bador.
Chris Baker was a beast inside scoring 23 points and hauling in 12 rebounds to lead Winooski to a 53-46 comeback road win over the Trojans Friday night.
Eli Russel’s 16-point night gave the home team a 23-21 edge at the half and a 40-32 lead after three quarters.
Omar Turnage helped lead a furious comeback, scoring 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds, fueling a 21-6 run to end the game and steal the win.
Sophomore Sam Churchill added seven points and 11 rebounds and Stewart chipped in with nine in the loss.
Winooski improved to 8-3 on the season with their fourth straight win. It was the fourth loss of the season where Bador’s dinged up squad failed to hold a lead in the fourth quarter. His young team has shown they can compete with anyone in the Division however, and he feels like their best basketball is still ahead of them if they can get fully healthy.
“We will continue to work on figuring out closing out these close games as a unit, but our mindset remains positive. The boys are battle tested for sure and I constantly remind them that games like these will only help them down the road. Come mid-February we hope to be fully healthy and be able to give it one final push towards the playoffs,” said Bador.
The Trojans travel to Craftsbury Academy on Wednesday and will host Blue Mountain on Friday night.
