Boys’ basketball kicks off with a win

The Champlain Valley Union High School boys’ varsity basketball team’s long awaited season opener was a success, with a 37-34 win over Mount Mansfield Union on Feb. 13.

The Redhawks started the game on a 9-2 run, but the Cougars were able to recover and take a 22-20 lead into the half-time intermission. MMU continued to dominate on the offensive end, and push their lead up to as many as 6 points in the third period.

The CVU squad refused to quit, and regained the lead with just over a minute to play in the contest. This was in large part to Devin Rogers’ team high 12 points, as well as 7 from Alex Provost and 6 from Oliver Pudver. Logan Vaughen was the star down the stretch, going four-for-four from the free-throw line, as time was winding down, to enable the Redhawks to escape with a 3-point victory. Logan finished the evening with 8 points.

Coach Mike Osborne said his team felt fortunate to be able to get back on the court this winter in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also mentioned that this year’s 14-member squad has the least amount of varsity experience of any team he has ever coached at CVU, but it’s a group he’s really excited about and to work with. Osborne looks forward to the continued development of his squad and feels they will be a competitive team in the Metro this season. The assistant coach for the Redhawks is Matt Saltus.

In the second game of the season at Colchester on Feb. 16, the Redhawks got off to a low scoring offensive start in a 40- 36 loss to the Lakers. After scoring only four points in the first quarter, and a slow start to the second, that resulted in Colchester jumping out to a 19-6 lead halfway through the quarter, Osborne had seen enough and called a timeout.

Whatever he said worked, as the Redhawks put out a 9-2 scoring edge in the next three minutes, which resulted in his players only trailing 21-15 at the half-way mark of this match of Metro opponents.

Buckets by Rogers and Vaughen to open the second half cut the margin down to 21-19, but three 3-pointers by the Lakers helped push their lead back up to 9 points after three frames, 30-21.

The final stanza stated out with a trey by CVU, and then with 5:50 to go, Rogers, threw down a dunk with one hand, that under pre-COVID days, would have had at least half the gym rocking, but now, it resulted in just his fellow teammates, and coaches Mike and Seth erupting in cheer.

This cut the deficit to 33-30. Both teams traded 3 pointers to keep it a one possession affair with 3:28 to play. But the Redhawks could only muster three more points the rest of the way, resulting in a 40-36 defeat.

Rogers was the highlight of the Redhawk offense, scoring 19 points to keep his teammates in contention throughout the evening. Logan Vaughan chipped in with 7. After the disappointing loss, Coach Osborne stated, “We have had some really nice defensive moments over the first two games, but obviously really struggle to generate in the offensive end of the court.”

The varsity players on this years squad from Charlotte are; Henry Bijur, Deng Dau, and Turner Elliott and the lone representative from Hinesburg is Alex Provost.

The varsity players on this years squad from Shelburne are; Oliver Pudvar, Tucker Tharpe, and the Student Assistant is Corey Wemple.

The varsity players from Williston on this years squad are; Kyle Eaton, Captain Zach Doane, Jared Anderson, Captain Ethan Czarny, Braedon Jones, Ethan Murphy, Captain Devin Rogers, and Logan Vaughan.

The JV team, coached by Seth Emerson, and assisted by Cole Otley, built up a 38-27 lead after 3 quarters, and hung on for a 44-41 win over Colchester, which moves them to 2-0, in 2021.