Bellows Falls picks up win over Springfield

It was slow start Friday night between rivals Bellows Falls and Springfield, but as the game wore on, the tempo picked up and it was to the Terriers' liking as BF walked out with a 54-38 win.

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2016-02-06 / Sports Bellows Falls picks up win over Springfield By CHRIS DOHERTY cdoherty@eagletimes.com Bellows Falls’ Noah Wilkinson works the ball against Springfield’s Hunter Grace during Friday’s clash. — CHRIS DOHERTY Bellows Falls’ Noah Wilkinson works the ball against Springfield’s Hunter Grace during Friday’s clash. — CHRIS DOHERTY SPRINGFIELD — It was slow start Friday night between rivals Bellows Falls and Springfield, but as the game wore on, the tempo picked up and it was to the Terriers' liking as BF walked out with a 54-38 win. “We started to settle down. We were rushing things in the beginning offensively,” said BF head coach Ryan Stoodley. “We played pretty good defense throughout the whole night.” After a 9-9 first quarter, BF got things rolling a bit in the second quarter. Cam Joy and James Magnuson each hit threes to begin the quarter and that started a 15-4 run that gave the Terriers a 24-13 lead. Between Joy and Shane Clark, those two scored 13 of the team’s 17 points in the second quarter. Springfield head coach Michael Ruppel said Joy was a focal point of the team’s game plan going into the game. “Cam Joy did a really nice job for them,” he said. “We keyed on him as the guy we had to stop to win the game. He got going on the drive and that definitely helped them.” Joy finished the game with 13 points. Springfield was able to close the gap to 26-17 going into the half, but BF came out in the third quarter and put the game away by outscoring the Cosmos 15-6 in the third. ClSpringfield’s Michael Messer lays one in for two. — CHRIS DOHERTY Springfield’s Michael Messer lays one in for two. — CHRIS DOHERTY ark scored seven more of his game-high 18 points in the third. “[Clark]’s done a very good job. I had to meet with him in the middle of the year and say ‘it’s time for you to start leading this team and be a little bit more aggressive offensively,’” said Stoodley. “He’s always been a selfless player and always wants to pass the ball. I told him it’s not time for that anymore, it’s time to take over and be the leader of the team.” Springfield outscored BF 15-13 in the fourth quarter, but was unable to sustain enough offense to cut into the Terriers’ lead. “Our guys played hard for 32 minutes,” said Ruppel. “We just didn’t get the result we wanted.” For BF, Stoodley only played six players due to a number of different reasons. But a benefactor of that was newly brought up JV player, Noah Wilkinson. Wilkinson scored six points in just his third varsity game. “He was a JV player until last week,” said Stoodley. “This is his third varsity game and he’s finally starting to get the game speed down, so he’s getting a little more comfortable.” BF has now won two straight games and looks to keep the winning streak alive with a game against Green Mountain on Tuesday night. “It was a good two wins this week, so we’re getting the morale up,” said Stoodley. “Hopefully we can carry that over into our last three games because I think all three games are very winnable games.” Springfield is still searching for its first win of the year with two games remaining, but Ruppel said the energy is still upbeat in the locker room. “With a record like this a lot of teams start to crack, but our team has stayed together 100 percent,” he said. Senior night is next for the Cosmos as they host Windsor on Tuesday night. “I think we played them tough last time. The score didn’t reflect that, but we really came out early and played with them and we’re hoping to build off of that, hopefully give our seniors a nice sendoff. They’ve worked hard for us,” said Ruppel.