WELLS RIVER- On Saturday night the Blue Mountain Bucks punched their ticket to the Barre Auditorium with a 48-36 win over the Danville Bears.  It’s been a long time coming as the varsity boys from BMU haven’t played in that historic building since 2008.  Last year’s squad did in fact make it to the semifinals, but COVID restrictions meant the game could not be held in Barre.

For the Bucks, it was their third win over Danville this season as both regular-season contests went their way.  In their first matchup, the Bucks easily dispatched the Bears with a 46-21 win at home that allowed the BMU bench to have significant time on the floor.  The second win for the Bucks came at Danville where it was a more closely contested 10 point game.  A popular old adage in sports states that “it’s hard to beat a team three times in the same season.”  Danville brought a huge crowd on the road to Wells River hoping that the third time would indeed be the charm for the visiting Bears.  However, BMU would have none of it and lead the entire game behind solid defense and a very deliberate offensive set.  It was a relatively slow start as the Bucks led by only four after the first quarter.  It appeared that the Bucks would lead by the same four points at the end of the first half until Jacob Dube hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to send the Bucks into the locker room with a 21-14 advantage.  BMU was able to pull away in the 3rd frame as they tossed in another 10 points while holding Danville to just 4.  Blue Mountain was often content to pull the ball out and play a slow, deliberate style of offense as Danville was in a zone defense that allowed the Bucks to simply hold the ball as they were not closely guarded.  As time ticked off the clock, Danville was forced to closely guard the BMU ballhandlers which created gaps in the Bears’ defense.  A bright spot for Danville was the play of Junior Christian Young.  Young was the game’s, high scorer, with 18 points.  He went an impressive 11 for 13 from the foul line with 9 of those free-throw points coming in the 4th quarter as he tried to keep his team in the game.  On the BMU side it was Evan Dennis leading the way with 13 points but every BMU player who saw time on the floor, put points on the board.  This balanced attack was simply too much for the Bears to overcome.  BMU Junior Ricky Fennimore chipped in six points and played terrific defense.  He said, “It’s an amazing feeling to defend the home court, especially when it means going to the Aud for the first time in a long time.”  The #4 Bucks will face the undefeated #1 Rivendell Raptors at the Barre Auditorium on Monday night at 6:30 pm.  The two clubs faced off just once during the regular season with Rivendell coming out on top 49-42.

Blue Mountain 8-21-31-48

T. Winchester 3 (1) 0-0 9,  E. Dennis 1 (2) 5-6 13,  J. Dennis 2 (2) 0-0 10, E. Gilding 2 (0) 0-2 4,  R. Fennimore 2 (0) 2-4 6,  C. Ingerson 0 (1) 0-0 3,  J. Dube 0 (1) 0-1 3

Danville 4-14-18-36

L. Palmieri 1 (1) 0-0 5,  A. Guinard 1 (0) 0-0 2,  A. Joncas 0 (1) 0-0 3,  C. Young 2 (1) 11-13 18,  D. Brigham 1 (2) 0-2 8

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