CHESTER- The Green Mountain boys’ basketball team beat Bellows Falls on Saturday night in a back-and-forth battle, 44-40.
The game’s scoring opened with a three-pointer by Green Mountain sophomore guard James Anderson. Then came over three minutes of scoreless play because of tight defense from both sides, until finally Bellows Falls scored back-to-back baskets. Senior Shane Clark made a floater in the paint, followed by a three from junior Joe Terry. This put the Terriers up 5-3 at the 4:20 mark. Green Mountain would then go on a 9-2 run highlighted by seven points from Anderson. A baby hook from Shane Clark closed the quarter at a score of 12-9 Green Mountain.
Bellows Falls opened up the second frame with back-to-back layups from Clark and junior Isaac Wilkinson to take the lead 13-12. The rest of the second quarter featured back-and-forth scoring. Green Mountain senior Ryan McSally recorded two and-one layups and had another basket off of a nice feed from Anderson in the quarter. At the half, Green Mountain led 23-21.
Bellows Falls started the third quarter on a 7-0 run, which featured a corner three from Terry, a layup by sophomore Ryan Kelly off of an assist from Clark, and a put-back layup by sophomore Dylan Clark. The run was finally stopped by two McSally free-throws at the 4:02 mark, followed by back-to-back layups from Chieftan freshman Skyler Klezos. The third quarter ended on a put-back layup at the buzzer from the Terriers’ Wilkinson off of a Shane Clark miss to give Bellows Falls the lead, 30-29.
To start the fourth quarter, Klezos hit a three-pointer at the top of the key, and at the 6:43 mark, junior Keegan Ewald hit two free-throws, to give the Chieftans the lead 34-30. Bellows Falls responded with a running hook from Kelly, and a breakaway layup from Shane Clark after a steal to tie the game. The game would be tied again at the 2:44 mark, 36-36, after a Klezos layup and two free throws by Bellows Falls.
The last few minutes of the game were a bit hectic. After a Klezos put-back and an Ewald free-throw, Bellows Falls responded with a Shane Clark layup to bring the score to 39-38 Green Mountain with 1:22 left. With 41 seconds left, Klezos had a big rebound for the Chieftans after Anderson missed the front-end of a one-and-one. He passed to junior Chase Ordway-Smith, who was immediately fouled, and hit one out of two from the line. Bellows Falls inbounded to Shane Clark, who was fouled trying to get up the right sideline, and was sent to the line. He hit both free-throws and the game was tied 40-40 with 36.3 seconds left.
On the next possession, Klezos was fouled on a layup. After making the first, McSally was there for the clutch rebound on the miss of the second shot, and Green Mountain called a timeout when McSally ran into trouble in the corner. Bellows Falls put Anderson on the line following the timeout, who calmly hit both shots, bringing the score to 43-40. After a Terrier timeout, their final play led to a good look from three at the top of the key by sophomore McGregor Vancor with two seconds left, but the shot was off the mark. Ewald grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He hit one of two at the line, and the Green Mountain Chieftans escaped a close one, 44-40.
After the close loss, Bellows Falls head coach Ryan Stoodley had this to say: “This was a very winnable game. We had our opportunities. We just had too many in-and-out layups. We most definitely should have won this game if we just make our shots.”
On the other side, Green Mountain head coach Brian Rapanotti said, “We’ve been in a lot of these close games and have been on the short end in the last two, three weeks, so it was good to get some confidence… played three freshman a lot of minutes today and those guys are just… every minute they’re getting better and better.” On freshman Skyle Klezos, coach Rapanotti had high praise: “He made some huge plays down the stretch. He won us the game today.”
Green Mountain only had one senior honored for their senior night, Ryan McSally, and when asked how it felt to be the lone senior in the young group, McSally said, “It kind of does put you in a leadership role, whether you like it or not. It’s been good for me… to do that this year.” And, on the upcoming playoffs, McSally said, “I know we’re definitely going to be the underdog in whatever our game is, but I think if we have a good game we can pull it out.”
Both the Bellows Falls Terriers and the Green Mountain Chieftans will be heading to the playoffs in their respective divisions, with details on that to come.
Green Mountain sophomore guard James Anderson #22 surveys the floor during Saturday night’s game against Bellows Falls
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