SOUTH ROYALTON — The Rivendell Academy boys basketball team continued its VPA Division IV dominance with a victory over White River Valley, 44-37, on Tuesday night in South Royalton.
The Raptors improved to 15-1 on the season, but it wasn’t easy.
“It was a battle,” Rivendell coach Ross Convertino said. “I felt like I was out there with them. I work the sidelines quite often, but this one was a little extra.”
It was all Raptors early on, with the visitors scoring eight of their 10 points in the first quarter off the fast break. Zach Gould (eight points), who normally plays in the frontcourt, handled significant point-guard duties against the Wildcats and was an effective distributor with his teammates running the lanes hard.
Rivendell began a 12-0 run late in the first quarter, which ended when Dominic Craven (11 points) drove to the basket and scored early in the second quarter. This sparked a 10-2 run by WRVS (9-7) that ended when Rivendell’s Jameson Gilbert scored inside, boosting his team’s lead to 20-10. The visitors led, 25-17, at halftime.
Craven opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a hoop inside, and Jacob Barry (13 points) followed with a 3-pointer to force the game’s first tie at 33-33. The score remained unchanged for nearly three minutes as both teams exchanged misses.
Rivendell’s Luke Senn ended the scoring drought and broke the tie midway through the quarter with a lay-up inside. WRVS big man Weston Trombly (eight points) answered with a layup of his own before the Wildcat offense went cold and Rivendell pulled away behind late baskets by Gould, Senn and Kyle Carter.
Wildcats coach Mike Gaudette expressed frustration following the loss.
“We missed a lot of shots in the paint tonight, and that was the difference in the game,” Gaudette said. “We just didn’t finish. … We started slow tonight, and it felt like we were trying to dig ourselves out of a hole the whole game and we did, and then we didn’t execute.
“We took a couple poor shots. We took a couple of 3s when we should have probably executed and, at this point in the year, we should know better.”
Rivendell, which got 13 points apiece from Carter and Senn, was without starter Sean Maddock (illness). Ty Newman started in his place.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Convertino said. “At times, they tripled Zach Gould and it was hard to get him going; we just had to grind one out. But yeah, we knew it was going to be tough. I kept telling them, ‘We’re like cornered animals. … We’ve just got to fight man, just fight.’ ”
Notes: The first matchup between the two teams was a close contest in Orford, with the hosts winning 47-44. … The Raptors’ season has so far included six victories over D-III opponents and one over a D-II squad. … Rivendell’s only loss so far was at Bellows Falls on Jan. 28 in overtime. … The Raptors’ four remaining games will go a long way in determining if they can hold on to a top-four seed. They entered Tuesday with 69 index points, the most in D-IV, but behind Twin Valley (66) on index average. … The Raptors will host Bellows Falls, with a mind for payback, on Friday. … WRV has five D-III wins under its belt and one against a D-II opponent. … Gaudette’s team will try to maintain a spot among D-IV’s top eight seeds as the Wildcats head down the stretch. … WRV travels to Green Mountain on Friday.