Sports

Cardinals go down swinging at Mascoma

By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CANAAN — The ride for the Stevens Cardinals boys basketball team came to an end on Tuesday but it wasn’t as simple at that may sound. With key players sitting home in Claremont with the flu, the Cardinals eventually fell but didn’t go without a fight.

At the outset it looked like an easy Royals win. With two hoops in the opening 20 seconds of the game, the packed student section went wild.

“We started out pretty hot,” said Mascoma coach Silas Ayers after the game. “But Stevens wouldn’t go away.”

Reeve Wilkinson got the Cardinals on the scoreboard but with Mascoma feeling it, they opened up a quick 11-2 lead as the pace was just too fast for Stevens. Lucas Belisle kept working hard on the glass and his free throw was followed up with a Jai-Lique Ribeiro move to the hoop. A Zach Thompson steal put the momentum right back on the Royals side of the court but when Dylan Chambers buried a three pointer from the corner, the lead was cut to 14-8.

“They were tough,” Chambers said. “We did what we wanted on defense but we had a hard time scoring points.”

Not only were the points hard to come by for Stevens, five turnovers in the last three minutes of the half allowed Mascoma to build upon their lead with a 7-0 run to close out the first 16 minutes and take a 30-15 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter was a back and forth affair with Stevens matching the intensity of Mascoma. Hunter LaRocque drove into the paint and earned free throws while Belisle and Kayden LaClair started to muscle their way to some big rebounds. Stevens was still in the game trailing 37-24 late but a dagger of a three pointer late from Thompson really took the wind out of the Cardinals sails.

“We really wanted to limit Ben Seiler as much as we could and we did a pretty good job of that,” said Stevens coach Ray Curren after the game. “But Thompson really stepped up tonight for Mascoma.”

With Seiler slowed down, it was the Thompson show drilling back to back three pointers as Mascoma went on a 10-2 blast to open things up to start the final quarter as Stevens could see the writing on the wall.

“We played out hearts out this season, we have no regrets,” said Austin Jones after the court had cleared. “This is a team that will open some eyes next year, they will not be overlooked again.”

As the clock ticked away on the Cardinals and handshakes followed by hugs showered the court, Chambers looked back on the season with optimism.

“This was how basketball should be played, in front of a big loud crowd. This was fun,” Chambers said. “Of course we all want to win but to look back and see where the program was and where we are now, it’s going to be fun to see how far this team will go next year and beyond.”

Mascoma would move onto the next round with a 62-40 win but Curren was upbeat.

“We stayed in it tonight. Mascoma is a good team and we just couldn’t find the offense at key moments,” said Curren just before boarding the bus to head home. “To say I’m proud of what this team accomplished this year would be an understatement. We all stuck together and even tonight, with some key players missing, we played out hearts out and gave them a fight.”

Juniors LaRocque and LaClair led Stevens with 11 and nine points while Chambers finished his career with 32 minutes of playing time.

Thompson paced the Royals with 24 points and Seiler finished with 12 points.

sports @eagletimes.com

Avatar photo

As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.