MAU boys blow past Springfield

At Thursday night's game in Bennington, Mount Anthony Union put the Cosmos away early, and only a layup by Ty Albert kept the Cosmos from going scoreless.
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/sports/ci_27517569/mau-boys-blow-past-springfield

MAU boys blow past Springfield MAU opens up 23-2 lead after one to post big result By Geoff Smith gsmith@benningtonbanner.com POSTED: 02/12/2015 10:08:00 PM EST0 COMMENTS Mount Anthony Union High School’s Matt Anderson goes up for a layup against Springfield on Thursday night. Mount Anthony Union High School's Matt Anderson goes up for a layup against Springfield on Thursday night. (Holly Pelczynski — Bennington Banner) BENNINGTON >> The best part of Thursday night's win over Springfield for Mount Anthony Union High School boys basketball coach Dan Sleeman wasn't the final result, a 61-36 drubbing, or who scored the most points for his team, Tyler Champagne put up 20 and Marques Vaval-Paris and Damon Burgess each had 10, it was how his team went about their business. With smiles on their faces. "It's nice to see the guys having fun," Sleeman said. "In a long season with ups and downs, it's nice to see them smiling." MAU (7-11) came out and put the Cosmos (3-15) away early, with Burgess knocking down a trey on the team's first possession and Champagne scoring on three offensive putbacks. MAU forced Springfield into 10 first-quarter turnovers, and only a layup by Ty Albert kept the Cosmos from going scoreless. After the intial onslaught, things evened out a bit as MAU went into halftime up 30-8, a 7-6 quarter for the Patriots, and in the second half Matt Graham had three of his four 3-pointers on the game, he led his team with 12 points, to give the Cosmos a bit of offensive mojo. But after the dominant first quarter, there was nothing the Cosmos could do to try and tie the game up. "We came out and did what we were supposed to," Sleeman said. "Sometimes it can get sloppy and be a hack-fest — It didn't at any point tonight. They played for each other, they played unselfish and with energy. Tonight was about coming out and playing and doing what we were supposed to do because we had a big-time letdown against Rutland. The best thing is we have a chance to fix that on Tuesday. I was pleased, and a lot of it was the energy I saw from them." Off the bench, Devin Babson had eight points for MAU and Patrick Powers added 7. For Sleeman, being able to let his bench players get major burn was another key success in the win Thursday. "It was quality minutes, but I saw smiles on their faces," Sleeman said. "They were really into it, and the guys that came out were into it, too. I think that is really priceless in a long season. I thought they handled it really, really well. I thanked them for that, because it's easy in a game like this to not do that. You become selfish, you don't share the ball ... They were playing for each other and smiling, so that's a really great feeling." Champagne finished one rebound shy of a double-double, while powers had three offensive rebounds, and four total, in his playtime. Ethan Anderson dished out four assists in the win. For Springfield, Josh Rivers had six points and nine rebounds. After the first quarter, MAU honored the Southern Vermont College men's basketball team for winning the regular season New England Collegiate Conference crown by announcing the roster and having the players on-hand stand to be recognized. The Mountaineers paid the favor back by being a passionate support-base for the MAU team, raucously cheering on the Patriots throughout the win. MAU is back in action on Tuesday against Rutland.