By DAN BARILE
Eagle Times Correspondent
CLAREMONT, NH — It was a tale of two halves when the Fall Mountain Wildcats and the Stevens Cardinals squared off in Claremont on Monday, Dec. 11.
Both teams started the game ice cold before Jacob Davis opened the scoring with a corner three for Stevens. The Cardinals extended their lead to five before Fall Mountain finally got on the board with less than two-and-a-half minutes remaining in the quarter on a basket by Luke St. Pierre. The final couple of minutes of the period saw an uptick in scoring which culminated in Fall Mountain’s Evan Parker executing a coast-to-coast buzzer-beater to even the score at 9.
After trading a few baskets to start the second quarter, Fall Mountain reeled off 10 unanswered points to extend their lead to 27-16. Tyson Patch fueled the Wildcats offense by scoring nine points in the second frame. Stevens added the final basket of the quarter to cut the lead to 27-18 entering halftime.
While Fall Mountain initially maintained its lead to start the second half, Stevens started creeping back as the third quarter progressed. After sitting out the first half, senior forward Devante Thompson provided a spark for the Cardinals. Thompson connected on a three-pointer and added a putback layup to help cut the Wildcats lead to 32-30 by the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair until around the three-minute mark when Thompson drained another three to give the Cardinals a 42-40 lead. The Cardinals never looked back as they outscored the Wildcats 8-2 over the final three minutes to earn a 50-42 victory.
“Tonight was one of those nights where not a lot of things went well for us. We didn’t pass well, we didn’t shoot well, and we lacked a lot of effort,” said Fall Mountain Head Coach Nate Haskell. “Kudos to Stevens. Their effort in the second half, especially on offensive rebounds, was something we couldn’t handle.”
Thompson led Stevens with 13 points and Lucas Belisle added 9. The Cardinals also received 6 points apiece from Davis, Hunter Ferland, Cullen Neathawk and Owen Wilkinson.
“[Thompson] worked really hard and changed the landscape of the game,” Haskell said.
At one point the student section could even be heard chanting, “Devante! Devante!” to which Thompson said, “It really motivated me to work harder on defense and offense.”
Patch led Fall Mountain with 14 points and St. Pierre followed with 8.
“Tyson Patch was outstanding tonight. His effort from the tip to the horn at the end was a huge reason why we were still in the game,” Haskell said.
Fall Mountain’s next game is at Hinsdale on Thursday, Dec. 14, and Stevens travels to Windsor on Friday, Dec. 15.
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