Burr and Burton v. Leland and Gray (Boys) 12/12/12

TOWNSHEND - It was nail-biter in Townshend Wednesday, December 12 where the Leland and Gray Rebels hosted the Burr and Burton Bulldogs.  After a long game of back and forth play, the two teams  entered overtime tied at 44. In spite of the incessant screaming and cheering of Rebels fans, it was the Bulldogs who emerged the victors to win 47-46.

Entire Rebels team for first national anthem

It looked to be a challenging first game of the season for the Rebels.  After getting beaten by the Brattleboro Colonels in a preseason scrimmage, they faced the Bulldogs who had crushed the Colonels 64-43 just two days previously.

Senior captain Michael Bergeron explained, "Brattleboro beat us up pretty badly a few weeks ago when we played them.  And to hear that [the Bulldogs] beat them up pretty badly, we were just thinking that they would beat us up even worse.  Even our coach was blunt about it, saying, 'you guys are going to need to play a really good game if you want to even compete.'"

However, the Rebels played excellent defense right off the bat to keep the Bulldogs at bay.  It wasn't until three minutes into the game when Bulldog Jake Stalcup scored off a rebound for the first basket of the game.  By the end of the first quarter, the Rebels were trailing just 10-11.

Browntown (left) and Stalcup (right)

By the second quarter, things were starting to shift the way everyone had anticipated they would.  Despite some great offense by seniors Andy Brown and Drew Barnum, the Bulldogs were draining threes with seniors Tanner Carleton, David Shehadi and Weston Muench. The Rebels defense slipped momentarily and the results were costly as the Bulldogs finished the first half leading 27-22.

Bergeron (14) with put-back

The Rebels emerged from the locker room to start the third quarter with authority.  The Rebels took advantage of the Bulldogs' missed shots by executing their own plays to the rim.  Bergeron led the rally by acquiring six straight points in that quarter alone.  The Rebels finished the third leading 36-32.

Muench with a three

The final quarter started where it had left off.  Bergeron put back another rebound to start things off followed by a fast break layup by junior Jake Sherman.  However, the Bulldogs countered when Muench hit his second three of the game to cut their deficit to 40-39.  As the clock dwindled down to the final minutes of the game, the Bulldogs were desperate to come back.  They fouled away to get a chance for the ball back.  Their investment certainly paid off as the Rebels missed their foul shots.  The Bulldogs rallied, led by Shehadi and Stalcup, to tie the game 42-42 with exactly one minute to go.

The game looked to be locked when senior captain Billy Nupp made a nice jump shot to bring the Rebels up 44-42 with just ten seconds left to go.  But the Bulldogs had one last chance to make a play.  The hero was Stalcup, who put back a rebound in dramatic fashion just beating the screeching buzzer.  The game was heading into overtime.

Tied

Although there was four minutes designated to overtime, neither team could get the ball in the hoop.  With just a minute left, Shehadi was fouled on his way to the rim to get the and-one foul shot that brought the Bulldogs up 47-44.  The Rebels, struggling to get back into the groove, had under twenty seconds on the clock to make one last shot.

Senior Zach Wilkins dribbled the ball up and passed the ball quickly to a startled Barnum who somehow managed to put up a shot with a man in his face.  The ball was short of the basket, but sophomore Corey Nystrom got the rebound. The uncontested Nystrom turned and put the ball back in within the last three seconds.  However, the two-point jumper was not enough and the Rebels lost in a final 46-47.

Final Score

The MVP of the game goes to Muench, who had a total eleven points with a significant three to put the Bulldogs back in contention.  For the Rebels, the MVP goes to Bergeron who had sixteen points on the night and led a crucial rally in the third quarter to give the Rebels the lead. 

Bergeron spoke on the competitiveness, "We've played Burr and Burton for the past two years in scrimmages so it's not like these were people we didn't know.  After the first ten points we scored, we realized that we can play with them and that they weren't anything we couldn't handle."  On the loss, Bergeron explained, "It's kind of bittersweet because coming into the game we all expected to get savaged, which didn't happen at all.  But to realize that we could've actually won, that we had the lead with only a few seconds left, is a little disappointing."

Rebels coach Andy Nystrom spoke on the game, "[The Bulldogs are] a good division two team . . . I'm really proud of our effort.  The first half we turned the ball over more than I would've liked, but I thought we defended really well the second half, especially during that final three-point shot.  They were down by two in the final seconds of the game and they go for the three.  We anticipated that because we know that's their style.  Unfortunately we just didn't get the rebound and they tied the game up . . . I can't really take anything negative away from it.  If anything, it would be our last two minutes of regular time.  We really need to work on closing things out."

The Rebels now look to face the Poultney Blue Devils who beat the Bellows Falls Terriers 74-71 in their last contest.  The game is home on Friday, December 14.