EAGLES PULL AWAY FROM MISSISQUOI IN SECOND HALF
By Ben Kaufmann
SWANTON – An eight-man Missisquoi squad hung tough with Mt. Abraham on Wednesday evening but were outscored by 11 in the second half of a 51-37 loss to the Eagles.
MVU (2-7) did well to get the Eagles into foul trouble, including two Mt. Abe (5-4) starters picking up a fourth foul before the midway point of the third quarter. But Missisquoi got into its own foul trouble in the second half and lost two players to foul-outs. The fully manned Eagles were in a better position to lose players on Wednesday.
The shot-fakes of Ray Fournier, who led MVU with 13 points, stole the show for the Thunderbirds. He scored the game’s first basket on a pump-fake and followed a Hayzen Luneau basket with a jumper to give the hosts an early 6-4 lead. Another pump-fake late in the quarter led to a Fournier free throw and helped MVU end the first quarter down just 12-8.
Fournier drew a foul on a made basket to start the Thunderbird second with two points. After four straight from the Eagles, Luneau hit his patented hook shot and a free throw to get MVU within three, but Mt. Abe scored last to take an 18-13 lead into halftime.
Mt. Abe began to pull away in the third. An and-one play from Fournier accounted for MVU’s only points of the first four minutes of the frame and, after two Maliki Unwin-Jackson free throws, Mt. Abe ended the third on a 10-1 run to bring a 34-19 lead to the final quarter.
A trio of threes from Connor Nielsen helped MVU to, by far, its best quarter of the day in the fourth. Luneau scored four in the fourth, Ian Digby hit a pair of free throws and Fournier scored his final point of the night. Even with 16 points in the quarter, MVU was still just a notch behind the Eagles, who scored 17.
Nielsen and Luneau were just behind Fournier with nine points apiece and Unwin-Jackson and Digby each scored two. The Thunderbirds will try to get back on the winning track Saturday at 11:30AM at Milton.
