By DAN BARILE
Eagle Times Correspondent
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The Springfield Cosmos boys basketball team earned its first win of the season when they traveled to Townshend just two days before Christmas and cruised to a 65-42 victory over Leland & Gray.
The Cosmos won in convincing fashion despite a 25-point performance from Leland & Gray’s Cody Hescock.
Hescock had another strong outing in the rematch on Jan. 15, but Springfield’s depth was too much to overcome, allowing the Cosmos to come away with a 59-45 win at Dressel Gymnasium.
Springfield raced out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes, forcing Leland & Gray to call a quick timeout. The timeout proved to be wise as the Rebels responded with a 10-2 run to claim their first lead of the night with 2:19 left in the first quarter. Leland & Gray’s lead was short-lived when John Paul Stagner connected from behind the arc just 16 seconds later, but it was an encouraging start for a Rebels squad that found itself in a deep hole early in the first matchup with the Cosmos.
The second and third quarters followed a similar pattern as Springfield’s lead ballooned to double digits in both periods before Leland & Gray cut the deficit to single digits by the end of each quarter.
The Cosmos and Rebels went back-and-forth over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, with the lead standing at nine points midway through the final frame. Unlike the previous periods, the Cosmos closed the quarter on a strong note to come away with a 14-point victory.
Bradley Gallant (14), John Paul Stagner (12), Nick Wiese (12), and Oliver Kelley (11) each scored double figures for Springfield. Cody Hescock paced Leland & Gray with 17 points.
Springfield’s (3-4) next contest is at Bellows Falls on Saturday at 1 p.m.