By CHRIS LACLAIR
Eagle Times Sports Editor
LANGDON, NH — Following a season where Hopkinton reached the Division 3 semifinals and de-feated Fall Mountain by 42 points, you would have been hard-pressed to find many people who predicted that Fall Mountain would win its season opener against Hopkinton on Friday, Dec. 8. However, the Wildcats did just that, holding on for a 57-54 victory in a game that featured so many lead changes, they could barely be counted on a full set of fingers and toes.
Hopkinton jumped out to an 8-2 lead after capitalizing on some early Fall Mountain turnovers. The Wildcats would quickly claw back to take a 9-8 lead when Charlie Dussault converted a layup fol-lowing a steal and assist from Evan Parker. The excitement of the crowd could be felt throughout “The Den” after Fall Mountain took its first lead of the night.
While the opening frame was a defensive struggle, both teams repeatedly found the bottom of the net during the second period. Ledger Willett, Luke St. Pierre and Josh Town each made multiple shots during the quarter to help give Fall Mountain a 28-24 lead at halftime.
Hopkinton regained the lead in the first minute of the second half after Will Chehade scored five quick points for the visitors. The rest of the quarter was a back-and-forth-affair that resulted in Hop-kinton entering the final frame with a 44-41 lead.
After a slow start to the fourth quarter, Fall Mountain went on an 8-1 run to take a 52-50 lead with 4:44 remaining. The run was punctuated by a deep three from St. Pierre that sent the crowd into a frenzy. With just over a minute left in the game, Willett extended the lead to three after sinking a couple of free throws. Hopkinton had a golden opportunity to tie the game with just under 30 sec-onds remaining when dynamic guard Vincent Louca (18 points) was fouled while attempting a three-pointer. Fortunately for the Wildcats, Louca missed two out of three free throws and the Hawks failed to score after securing an offensive rebound. Following another made free throw by Willett, Hopkinton had one final chance to tie the game before time expired. Despite causing the Wildcats headaches all night, Louca’s three-point attempt fell short, and the Wildcats bench raced onto the court in celebration.
“To beat a team like Hopkinton, who is a potential final four team, is pretty special. It’s really good to get a win against a team of that caliber,” said first year Fall Mountain Head Coach Nate Haskell.
Leading the scoring attack for Fall Mountain was Willett with 21 points and St. Pierre with 11. Ty-son Patch (7), Town (6), Owen Riendeau (5), Parker (3), Eric Franklin Jr. (2) and Dussault (2) also scored for the Wildcats.
“We had contributions from so many players tonight. Even if it was just 2 minutes here or 3 minutes there, every single person who got on the floor tonight contributed,” Haskell said.
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