Wells River- On Wednesday, February 15th the 11-4 Bucks welcomed the 14-0 Spartans to the Dr. Harry M. Rowe Gymnasium. The Bucks were looking to rebound from their loss to the Engineers on Monday night.  However, the visiting Spartans proved to have too many weapons and beat out the Bucks 77-50. Early on the Bucks showed promise coming out hot as Ricky Fennimore posted up the Spartans’ 6’7″ center Daniel Surma and converted the bucket for two to open the game. The Bucks held their own making several defensive stops and ending the quarter ahead by one. In the second frame the Bucks yet again defied the odds and held their own one more time ending the half only down 7 points.

Coming out of the half the Spartans made adjustments to the Bucks’ zone defense and put on a clinic scoring 24 points in the 3rd quarter to the Bucks’ 12. The Bucks tried to prevent the Spartans shooting by playing an extended 3-2 zone defense the Spartans managed to break the zone with quick passing, in and out the paint which caught the Bucks off guard and then were able to convert on their 3-point attempts. The Spartans continued their run led by Trevon Bradley, who finished with 27 points.

The Bucks put up a valiant effort with Evan Dennis finishing with 16 aided by Ricky Fennimore who finished with 14 points. According to Fennimore “I thought we came out swinging and played a good first half, and then they got hot and didn’t miss many shots in the second half and we didn’t extend out enough.”  The Bucks’ energy in the 4th quarter didn’t waver with the bench players seeing time. Junior Keegan Frigon finished with 8 points as he heated up hitting 3 shots in a row and getting the Bucks reenergized despite the loss. Even though the Bucks lost they showed grit playing through a tough deficit and showing good energy throughout the contest.

The Spartans remain perfect at 15-0 and host the Craftsbury Chargers on Friday, February 17th. The Bucks fall to 11-4, they will look to recover as they travel to Stowe on Friday, February 17th.

Blue Mountain: 16-14-12-8-50

K. Fennimore 1 (1) 2-4 7, E. Dennis 5 (2) 0-1 16, H. Carle 0 (0) 1-2 1, K. Blood 2 (0) 0-0 4, K. Frigon 1 (2) 0-0 8, R. Fennimore 7 (0) 0-0 14.

Winooski: 14-18-24-16-77

T. Bradley 4 (5) 2-2 25, H. Hassan 2 (4) 0-0 18, D. Surma 8 (0) 0-4 16, K. Bourgeois 3 (0) 0-0 6, S. Parris 4 (1) 2-2 13, N. Ferdinand 0 (0) 1-2 1.

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