Third-quarter boost sparks Minutemen

Had you walked into the Dean W. Houghton Gymnasium in North Clarendon as time expired at Tuesday night's boys basketball game, you might have thought it was an easy victory: Mill River 50, Springfied 30. Not that easy.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20120111/SPORTS/701119887

Published January 11, 2012 in the Rutland Herald

Third-quarter boost sparks Minutemen

By Tom Haley
STAFF WRITER

NORTH CLARENDON — Had you walked into the Dean W. Houghton Gymnasium as time expired at Tuesday night’s boys basketball game, you might have thought it was an easy victory: Mill River 50, Springfied 30.

Not that easy. The Minutemen went to halftime clinging to a one-point lead, 15-14.

The Minutemen took the game over in the third quarter, outscoring the Cosmos 21-11 with 3-point sniper Jay Carleton scoring 10 of the 21.

Carleton finished with 23 points on the strength of five 3-pointers.

“We wanted to penetrate and get the ball into their zone,” Carleton said of the halftime talk. “We didn’t do that at all in the first half.”

The Minutemen are working on an outstanding early season with a 6-1 record, a narrow loss at Burr and Burton Academy the only blemish.

The first quarter score was a nearly unheard of 3-2 score with the Minutemen leading.

“I don’t know how many possessions there were in the first quarter, but it wasn’t many,” Mill River coach Jason Smith said.

That is because the Cosmos worked their offensive sets in an extremely deliberate fashion.

The Cosmos took a 20-19 lead early in the third stanza when Kirk Perham drove to the hoop.

But Carleton erased that lead with one of his 3-pointers and the Cosmos never saw the lead again.

The Minutemen took a 36-25 lead into the final quarter and that forced the Cosmos to go man-to-man, a defense not of their choosing. The Minutemen extended the lead from there.

The Minutemen were without big man Nate Halligan, but they still had the size advantage.

“We were undersized at every position,” Springfield coach Pete Peck said. “Mill River is a very good team. They have depth and a ton of size. But we made them work for it. I’m proud of my guys.”

It was the end of a succession of three road games against some of the iron of Division II: MSJ, Burr and Burton and Mill River.

“I think we’re better off for that,” Peck said of the grueling stretch.

“I thought our defense was very good all night,” Smith said. “Once we got our tempo in the third quarter I thought we did much better.”

Perham was outstanding for the Comsos and finished with 18 points. Aaron Wallace followed with 11.

Following Carleton’s 23-point effort was Tanner Melen with eight points off the bench. Nate Salgo added seven and his output included two 3s. Jamie MacDonald tossed in six.

The Cosmos fall to 2-5 and face a Bellows Falls team that has already beaten them. But at least the Cosmos are back in friendly Dressel Gym.

The Minutemen travel to Otter Valley that night to face a team they have already beaten 69-35.

But Carleton said they are taking nothing for granted.

“One game is as important as the other and we’re going to have to work to get the ‘W’,” Carleton said.

They certainly had to work hard in this one.

It wasn’t until Carleton nailed that 3-pointer to finally put them ahead for good and Salgo followed with a free throw and then a putback on a missed layup while he was the trailer that the Minutemen had a bit of a cushion at 25-20.

That compelled Peck to call a timeout, but the Minutemen’s run continued, courtesy of Carleton.

He nailed another 3, stole the ball and converted a layup, scored again on a nice move in the lane and then turned another steal into a layup. Those nine straight points by Carleton swelled the lead to 36-25 and the Minutemen were home free.