While local outdoor winter sports enthusiasts are bemoaning the slow start to winter, not so for the Harwood boys’ basketball team. Their winter campaign is off to a 3-0 start with victories over Vergennes, Hartford and Peoples Academy.
Vergennes
Harwood opened the basketball season at home on Saturday, December 5, with a 74-67 victory over Vergennes.
"It was a balanced scoring effort by the team with four players scoring 10 or more points,” said coach Mike Woods. Leading the charge for the Highlanders was senior co-captain Cole Lavoie with 19 points. Adding 17 points was junior co-captain Shiv Seethepalli. Junior Lucas Baron contributed 14 points and sophomore Liam Harper, playing in his first varsity game, added 13 points.
The game was tied at halftime, but early in the third quarter Vergennes opened up a nine-point lead. "The team didn't panic when Vergennes took the lead in the third quarter," said coach Woods, "and we stuck to our game plan and ended the quarter down by only two points." Shiv Seethepalli was especially effective for the home team in the critical third quarter by scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds.
In the fourth quarter, Harwood outscored Vergennes 22-14 primarily by going 10 for 14 from the free throw line. With Vergennes fouling Harwood late in the game, the Highlanders sealed the game by knocking down their free throws.
Hartford
On Tuesday, December 8, Harwood hosted Hartford and held on for a 64-63 victory. The first half of the game was a three-point shooting extravaganza by both teams. Hartford dropped in six three-point shots and Harwood had eight. "It was raining threes in the first half," said Woods.
All of that scoring saw Harwood take a 40-30 halftime lead with Cole Lavoie leading the way by scoring 17 points in the half. However, Hartford started to creep back into the game in the third quarter by outscoring the Highlanders 19-14.
Harwood continued to hold the lead in the fourth quarter and was up by four points with about a minute left in the game when Hartford started to foul the home squad. Even though Harwood converted only three of eight foul shots in the quarter, they held on for the win. Harwood was led by Lucas Baron with 18 points, Cole Lavoie added 17 points and Shiv Seethepalli contributed 12 points.
Peoples Academy
Harwood took an 18-7 lead in the first quarter of its game against Peoples on Tuesday, December 15, and never looked back. Building on their early momentum, the Highlanders finished the game with a 69-35 victory.
Lucas Baron poured in 10 first-quarter points and sharpshooter Cole Lavoie nailed five 3-pointers for a game high of 15 points. Cole felt the key to Harwood’s success was breaking Peoples' full court pressure defense. Lavoie stated, “We executed on the press break and that got us into the flow and kept us running.” Shiv Seethepalli snared 11 rebounds and scored seven points. Sophomore Ryan Semprebon came off the bench and added nine points for the Highlanders. Lucas Baron finished with 14 points.
Harwood's next game is against Woodstock on Friday, December 18, as part of the U-32 holiday tournament. This is a varsity-only tournament with tip-off at 5:30 p.m. in the U-32 gym.
