Randolph Boys
Dispose of
Montpelier, 54-39

The Randolph boys took advantage of Montpelier’s poor shooting and played strong defense en route to a 54-39 win in Montpelier, Friday.

Randolph had only two turnovers in the first, and three in the third and fourth quarters, and for the most part did a good job of keeping Montpelier off the glass. The offense also started strong, scoring 18 in the first.

Tim Grandy was first to score for either team by hitting a 3, which was quickly answered by Montpelier. Whenever Randolph was about to get a run going, it seemed that Montpelier would make a play to stop the momentum. But with about half of the quarter gone, and with Montpelier’s trouble shooting the ball, Randolph started to take the edge on rebounding.

Thomas Jacobs came in off the bench to grab five rebounds and four points all on the offensive glass. With Grandy and Gareth Fabian all hitting shots, the Ghosts extended their lead to 18-9 by the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was the worst quarter for Randolph, as they gave away six turnovers, and handed Montpelier a chance to get back in the game. Strong rebounding by Ben Alicea and Zac Briggs helped keep Montpelier from closing the gap any closer. Paul Bianco and Fabian added four points apiece to give the Ghosts a 26-18 halftime edge.

Randolph started the third quarter off with a bang on a 10-0 run. Randolph started off with four fastbreak points from Alicea, a jumper from Fabian, and four from Jacobs off the offensive glass. With about a minute left to go in the quarter, Montpelier scored its first basket of the half, making the score 36-20. Grandy got another offensive rebound and a hoop, but Montpelier answered making the score 38-22 at the end of three quarters.

Randolph and Montpelier matched each other shot for shot at the start of the fourth, but that changed when Kevin Currier and Alicea scored back-to-back on fastbreak points, extending Randolph’s lead to 20. Fabian then hit three shots and a three pointer to up the score to 51-27. Montpelier went on a 10-3 run to end the game, but it was too little, too late for the Solons. Randolph ended the game with a 54-37 advantage.

Leading all scorers was Fabian with 17 points, Alicea had 9, Jacobs had 8 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. Grandy had 7, Bianco and Briggs had 4 each, with Briggs grabbing 11 boards. Rounding out the scoring for Randolph was Currier with 2, Matt MacAskill and Chad Russo with one point apiece.

High scorer for Montpelier was junior Thomas Passburg with 8.

Randolph improves its record to 9-3, and plays an important game against U-32 at home on Friday, Jan. 27.

J.V. Loss

The JV boys lost a heartbreaker in overtime 51-48 to Montpelier. Randolph was up by four with a minute left, but Montpelier scored four off turnovers. Randolph had two good shots at the end of regulation, but couldn’t get either to rattle home.

High scorers were Markus Farnham with 15, Jon White with 14, and Kyle Connolly with 9.

By Cody Montgomery