LUNEAU’S 23 HELP MVU TOPPLE MIDDLEBURY
By LANDON POTVIN
SWANTON – The Missisquoi Valley Union Thunderbird’s strong performance in the paint carried it to a 57-50 win over the Middlebury Tigers on Wednesday night. It was led by Hayzen Luneau’s 23 points and Maliki Unwin-Jackson’s four 3-pointers.
The Thunderbirds (3-11) played all four quarters well for the first time this season. They’ve struggled to score in the third or the first quarter in past games with two to six points. In this game, the T-Birds averaged 14 points a quarter.
“We’ve been losing by 8, 10 or 12 points,” said MVU head coach Matt Walker. “Then in every game, there’s a quarter we can’t score in, and it’s only the third game all year where we have a lead at the half. We did not have the quarter with three or four points. I am really happy for the kids; they’ve been working hard, never gave up, and they really needed a game like this.”
The electric start by the T-Birds got the team’s energy into it, and the crowd bought in as well. Luneau quickly scored eight points in the first and Caleb Surprise and Unwin-Jackson also chipped a 3-pointer each. All of MVU’s baskets came from an assist; each shot was an open look or in rhythm. With how well MVU played, you’d think they ran away with this game early, but Middlebury (4-10) went shot-for-shot with them, not allowing a lead of more than eight points. Penn Riney had six points in the paint himself and the Tigers also hit two threes. Jack Trudeau hit one as the first quarter’s buzzer sounded to cut MVU’s lead to 16-12.
The first quarter was Luneau’s, but in the second and third, Ray Fournier and Unwin-Jackson took the scoring duties. Fournier scored four points, all in the paint off strong takes right by the defenders. Unwin-Jackson hit two more threes to tie his career-high of four. Before Unwin-Jackson hit, Tigers Nikolai Luksch started the second half 3-for-3 from the field. He had two mid-range jumpers and a three with a hand right in his face. Unwin-Jackson matched his three from an in-rhythm pass then followed it up with another one in the following possession. The T-Birds seemed to play with so much joy tonight.
“Hayzen gave us a huge lift in the first half, Maliki gave us a lift in the second half,” said coach Walker. “Caleb hit some shots, and everyone contributed and worked extremely hard all year and finally got a win, so I am excited for them, and they deserved it.”
“It was so much fun to get out there and pop off,” said Luneau. “Coming back from Winooski, I only scored a few points, so it felt good. It is also really nice to see the fans have our backs, and the team camaraderie tonight was one of a kind.”
The Thunderbirds still held a 42-36 lead heading into the final eight minutes. The Tigers continued to stay hot from three and nailed three in a row to gain a 45-43 lead with 5:51. Trudeau helped Middlebury stay competitive with three threes and totaled 12 points and three steals. Middlebury hit big shot after big shot for most of the fourth quarter, but MVU stayed with it and matched. After Surprise tied it up with a scoop layup past two defenders, Luksch hit another three off the back iron to take a 48-45 lead. Once again, Fournier found Luneau in the post for his sixth assist of the night. Luneau made the shot and got fouled, where he converted to tie the game back up.
With 1:09 left in the game; it was all knotted up until Luneau got the mismatch in the post off a screen and took advantage. He gave MVU a 52-50 lead and then forced a Tiger turnover on the other end. The Thunderbirds did get a scare with 50 seconds left; they were stalling with the ball up top and turned it over, but Middlebury traveled before they could score. MVU sealed the deal after a Tigers timeout as an inbounds pass went straight to Luneau in the post for a 54-50 lead with 20 seconds left. From then, Middlebury did not hit a shot and MVU made three free throws to seal the deal at home.
“If we all put the same effort from tonight, we can definitely get a winning streak going,” said Luneau. “This was an energy level that we haven’t had before and played all four quarters, so it was a great improvement for us, and we need to keep it up.”
Luneau finished with 23 points and seven rebounds while shooting 73% from the field on 15 attempts. Unwin-Jackson scored 14 points, grabbed four rebounds, and had two steals and a nice block. Ray Fournier chipped in eight points, four rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
