Orford
No. 11 Winooski had its own designs on advancing, leading by as many as 23 points and withstanding a fourth-quarter Raptors rally to leave Orford with a 54-42 win in Wednesday night’s D-III tournament opener.
The Spartans (7-14) advance to face No. 3 Twin Valley, a 47-42 winner over No. 14 Randolph in the bracket’s other first-round game, on Saturday.
Rivendell (13-8) entered a winner of eight of its last nine and gunning for a rematch with Twin Valley, which beat it in their season opener.
It wasn’t to be for the Raptors, who were held scoreless until midway through the first quarter, shot 1-for-11 in the period and quickly fell behind, 15-3.
Battle-tested Winooski — which plays in northern Vermont’s Mountain League and had six games against D-II foes in the regular season — built on its lead in the second quarter, sinking three 3-pointers in a period that culminated with Elli Nahimana rattling in a trey at the first-half buzzer.
It was 30-13 for the Spartans at the break.
“They hit some big shots, both from outside and on the baseline,” Rivendell coach Jeff Huntington said of the Spartans. “We were too slow with our help defense and just couldn’t get shots to fall in the first half. In the second half, we were better, but we were in way too deep of a hole.”
Abdullahi Sadik (17 points), Nahimana (16) and Mowtes Ibrahim (15) all produced for Winooski, which draws largely from student members of the city’s refugee resettlement program.
The Spartans shot 50 percent (18-for-36) through three quarters, including 12-for-24 in the first half.
“We have a lot of good athletes, but that first half was the best we’ve shot all year,” Winooski coach Tom Obbagy said. “We made some plays in transition and were able to build enough of a lead. Good thing we did, because I knew (Rivendell) wasn’t going to give up, and they didn’t.”
Rivendell’s leading scorer, Owen Pelletier (14.8 ppg coming in), was held to two first-half points and 11 for the game, struggling through well-positioned Spartan players on the blocks and — like many of his teammates — missing a number of open looks.
A 5-0 mini-spurt by the Raptors got them within 38-20, a perfect give-and-go screen by Pelletier setting up a corner 3 by Shane Smith in front of a noisy Rivendell student section with three minutes to go in the third.
Ibrahim answered immediately with a 3 on the other end, even though he had a clear lane for a layup.
“Honestly, I’d rather see him go to the hoop on that play,” Obbagy said. “But that’s the kind of night it was for us shooting the ball,”
Rivendell started the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run, freshman Zach Gould sparking it with a steal and feed to Pelletier for a layup.
A third-chance putback in traffic by sophomore big man Isaac Martel, another basket off the offensive glass by Chris Gendron and Shane Smith’s dish to Gendron pulled the Raptors within 47-35 with 4:20 to play.
The Spartans’ Sadik sank a layup to quiet the crowd, and Winooski went 5-for-8 from the free-throw line to help ice it.
The Raptors did end the game on a 7-2 run, including a 3 in the final seconds by Gendron, a senior.
“You have to give us credit for not giving up,” Huntington said. “But this is a shocking loss for us. We’d been playing better, and we wanted another shot at Twin Valley.”
Free Throws: Fairlee resident Lynne Butler eschewed the use a microphone while performing The Star Spangled Banner prior to tip-off. “A couple of games ago, (a microphone) was coming in and out, so I had to sing it without it and now I prefer it that way,” Butler said. “It lets me project my voice better.” … Gould, the team’s starting point guard as a freshman, had five points. He left the physical game shaken up twice, but re-entered each occasion … Rivendell shot 17-for-56 (30.4 percent) for the game, Winooski 20-for-46 (43.5). … Rivendell held a 34-20 advantage in rebounding, including a 10-2 second-quarter edge while being outscored 15-10 in the period. … The Raptors graduate Smith, Colin Gould, Gendron and Sam Tilden. Gendron and Smith scored seven points each, while Gould and Tilden each had two.
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.