The Harwood boys’ basketball team hosted Thetford on Friday, February 12, for the regular season finale and came away victorious, 72-57. Not only was it the final regular season game, but it was also senior night and, according to coach Mike Woods, "Senior Cole Lavoie had a senior night to remember. Playing the final home game of his career, Cole scored 28 points to lead us to victory."
Harwood opened the game with a Lavoie layup off the opening tip which had the fans cheering and led to a 10-2 run for the Highlanders. Thetford quickly called a timeout and then put together a 9-2 run to see the quarter end with Harwood leading 12-11.
Harwood opened the second quarter just as it did the first by outscoring Thetford 14-5 over the first five minutes of the quarter. Leading the way for Harwood in this spurt were Lavoie with seven points and Lucas Baron with four points. Thetford called a timeout and, just as they did in the first quarter, went on their own run of 11-0 to take a one-point lead into halftime, 27-26.
Thetford came out of the halftime break on fire and put together a 17-6 run. Harwood then responded with an 8-0 run with Baron scoring five of the eight points. This resulted in Harwood trailing by four at the end of the third quarter, 44-40.
Harwood opened the fourth quarter with possession of the ball and promptly tied the score. Baron scored two points and was fouled. Even though he missed the free throw, Shiv Seethepalli got the rebound and was fouled. He made both of the free throws and the score was tied 44-44. Harwood finally took the lead on a Seethepalli two and never looked back. Midway in the quarter, Lavoie nailed three consecutive 3-point shots to push the lead to 62-53. Later in the quarter after a Baron two-pointer and a Seethepalli free throw, Lavoie scored seven straight points for Harwood to make the final Harwood 72 and Thetford 57. Game high scorer was Cole Lavoie with 28 points, Lucas Baron added 21 and Shiv Seethepalli had 12 points and 15 rebounds. Harwood finishes the regular season at 12-8 and was playing a first round playoff game as The Valley Reporter went to press on February 17.
