Zack Taylor had three points, going 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the win. /Photo by Bradley Smart
The U-32 boys basketball team earned payback for the second time in a week Tuesday.
Just days removed from beating Lamoille, a team that had downed U-32 earlier in the season, the Raiders returned the favor against another squad with a 59-49 victory over Oxbow.
The Olympians, who had escaped with a two-point victory over U-32 in January, were not able to repeat the on the Raiders’ home court. U-32 used a big opening quarter and a strong finish to pick up a 59-49 victory.
“Our defensive energy and our rebounding were the two biggest keys to tonight’s game,” U-32 coach Dan Gauthier said. “On the road, it’s a tough place to travel to and I don’t think we had the energy to win. Tonight was a really good effort.”
Raiders guard Kyle Graves drained a corner 3-pointer to give U-32 a lead two minutes into the first. It was a lead that the Raiders never relinquished. U-32 closed on a 13-3 run, powered by a balanced scoring attack.
“This was a great team win,” Gauthier said. “I keep going back to it, but our strength is having different guys contribute at different times.”
That depth was on display early, as captain Peter Childs came off the bench for an emphatic old-fashioned three-point play. Teammate Zack Taylor buried a pair of free throws and Jackson McCoy followed with a pair of jumpers.
The Olympians rallied over the next three quarters — outscoring U-32 by a slim 40-39 margin. It was the big first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game, despite the best efforts of Oxbow freshman guard Ben Emerson.
Emerson, who scored a game-high 21 points, kept the Olympians in contention alongside big man Anthony Giesing, who had 17 points. Giesing scored seven of Oxbow’s nine points in the first quarter, and he added six more in the third, but it was Emerson who powered a second-half comeback.
“Ben Emerson can flat-out shoot,” Gauthier said. “He hit some big shots for them down the stretch — from 25, 26 feet from the basket. He can knock them down and that kept them in it.”
With U-32 leading by 11 at the break, Emerson sparked a turnaround for Oxbow with four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter alone. The freshman knocked them down from all around the court, including pulling up from deep in transition to cut the Raiders’ lead to six with 1:01 remaining.
U-32 remained composed, however, with Taliesin Goldstein-Perdue hitting the front end of a pair of free throws. Childs cleaned up with a putback, while freshman Ford Porter added a foul shot to push the final margin to double-digits.
“Our composure again was really nice down the stretch,” Gauthier said. “We didn’t get ahead of ourselves and stayed calm, cool and collected and played good basketball.”
Graves (15 points) paced the Raiders, who have now won three straight and sit at 10-6. Jordan Moore, Kyle Booth and Childs all added seven points in the victory, while Taylor hit 3 of 4 free throws.
Oxbow, which featured five points from Hayden Tomlinson and four from Miles Garone, falls to 9-6.
U-32 will host Harwood on Friday at 7 p.m. The Raiders slipped by the Highlanders in their last meeting, a 65-59 triple-overtime thriller.
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