CHESTER- LongTrail hammered three deep shots in a row to close out the third quarter to snag the lead and held on at the end for a 46-43 win over the Chieftains Wednesday at Charles Nason Gym. The game was played much like a chess match with leads and momentum swings answered back and forth all night.
The visitors roared out to a 9-4 lead before Sawyer Pippin tied the game 9-9 as the Chieftains ended the first quarter leading 11-10. Green Mountain had balanced scoring right out of the gate as Ryan McSally, Ty Merrill, James Anderson and Chase Ordway-Smith all had added buckets in the first eight minutes. Green Mountain head coach Brian Rappanotti’s squad used a man to man defense most of the night that limited the Mountain Lions to only six 2 point shots all night. Green Mountain increased their lead to 22-20 at the half as Skyler Klezos added his name to the scorebook after an offensive rebound in heavy traffic and a shot off the glass.
Right out of the gate top start the second half, Long Trail nailed a three pointer to take the lead 23-22. Green Mountain took the momentum on the defensive end after a loud block by McSally keyed a rare Green Mountain fast break. Pippins bucket was followed by a couple of free throws by McSally and suddenly Green Mountain had the largest lead of the game 31-23 forcing the visitors to call a timeout.
“We had a tough game last night against Poultney but once we found our legs tonight, the flow of the game played into our strength,” said the Long Trail head coach after the game. That strength came off the shooting hands of Jackson Washburn, Jeremy Linfield and Liam Murphy as the visitors drilled 3 shots in a row from beyond the arc to erase the Green Mountain lead to nudge ahead 32-31 at the end of the third quarter. “Our shots were there tonight but they just would drop,” said Green Mountain head coach Rappanotti after the game.
Ordway-Smith’s offensive rebound in traffic resulted in a bucket and the Green Mountain lead 33-32 but that was shortlived as Long Trail ripped off five straight points before McSally’s bucket for Green Mountain ended the run. The next move was from McSally as his loud block transitioned into an open look three pointer from Merrill as Green Mountain had grabbed the lead back 38-37 with under three minutes remaining. After a Long Trail hoop and a Green Mountain timeout, the Chieftains went into a full court press and committed four fouls in 30 seconds which put Long Trail in the bonus and to the foul line.
Wasburn and Garret Petrossi combined for three out of their four free throws to increase the Long Trail lead to 42-38 but Ordway-Smiths three point bomb from the top of the arc cut the lead to a single point 42-41 with 18 seconds remaining. Green Mountain was forced to foul and Wasburn and Petrossi sank all their shots to increase the lead to 46-41 before a late Green Mountain bucket made the final score 46-43 in favor of the Mountain Lions.
“I thought we had a good solid effort tonight and we played a deep roster tonight with everyone contributing,” said Rapanotti after the game.
With the win Long Trail improves to 10 and 7 while Green Mountain drops to 7 and 12 and will host Bellows Falls (8-11) on Friday.
Washburn led Long Trail with 18 points tonight as the Mountain Lions shot 10 for 17 from the line including 7 for 8 in the final quarter. McSally led Green Mountain with 11 points tonight.
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