ORFORD — What results when two teams meet three times in one season, with the final showdown coming in the playoffs?
A methodical battle of possession.
The No. 2 seed Rivendell Raptors boys basketball team evaded upset-minded No. 7 White River Valley on Saturday afternoon, 49-37, in a VPA Division IV quarterfinal matchup in front of a soldout crowd at Rivendell Academy. The Raptors swept the three-game season series with the victory.
“I think it just comes with experience and toughness,” Rivendell coach Ross Convertino said of his team’s effort. “At the end of the day, they’re just competitors and winners. It’s innate in them.”
Entering the third quarter with a 28-20 lead, Rivendell started to slow down its number of possessions. The Raptors were making at least three to four passes before even giving the idea of taking a shot a thought.
Convertino said this was because they were playing with a decent-sized lead, not shooting great from the field and knew WRV would be trying to come out fast in the opening four minutes of the second half, trying to swing the momentum back to its side.
But each time the Wildcats stopped one of the time-consuming possessions, they couldn’t convert on the offensive end due to missed opportunities. They didn’t score from the 3:18 mark until there were 30 seconds left in the third quarter — a span of 2 minutes, 42 seconds.
Jacob Barry drove hard into the paint and converted a layup with more than 90 seconds to play in the period, but Rivendell’s Sean Maddock took a charge to swing possession back to the Raptors.
Tyler Slack hit a layup in the closing seconds of the quarter to end the scorless spell and cut Rivendell’s lead to 36-27. The two teams only combined for 13 points in the third quarter, with the Raptors edging out the visitors, 7-6.
A new Achilles heel popped up in the fourth quarter for the Wildcats as they started to find some resemblance of rhythm: foul trouble.
“It was just a weird game today,” WRV coach Mike Gaudette said. “We just could never get into a rhythm. Every time I thought we were getting into one, something happened here or there or they would just go on a run. It felt like we were swimming upstream all day.”
WRV’S top 3-point threat, Dominic Craven — a player Convertino called “special” — fouled out with more than five minutes to play. The sophomore entered the game averaging 15.6 points but was held to seven points.
The Wildcats kept fighting after his exit, though. They got the deficit down to six points on an Alex Lober trey from the top of they key, but then Lober exited with five fouls with 2:04 remaining. He finished with nine points. WRV’s Zeb Perreault also fouled out.
From then on, Rivendell was in control.
Gaudette tried his best to keep it close, sending the hosts to the free-throw line five times in the closing three minutes. It almost worked, too, as the Raptors shot just 4-of-10 from the line and finished the afternoon 8-of-22.
But a Zach Gould 3-pointer and a layup from Luke Senn (10 points) in the final 90 seconds closed out the victory for the Raptors.
“Lack of depth, knowing they couldn’t turn to the bench, definitely hurt them,” said Convertino, whose team is headed to the semifinals for the first time since 2015. “It’s the explosiveness. They had guys out who could score quick and rebound in bundles. Not having them at the end of the game definitely changed the dynamic.”
Gould, who finished with a game-high 19 points, dominated Saturday afternoon thanks to his go-to turnaround floater.
“I thought Zach (Gould) played like a senior today,” Gaudette said. “He just wasn’t going to let them lose. I thought we were on him, but he just hit some really tough shots.”
Gould’s a member of Rivendell’s four-player senior class, too. He helped the Raptors win a boys soccer state title during his sophomore year, but making it to Barre Auditorium for the basketball state semifinals is something he’s yet to do.
He’ll get to dthe Aud on Wednesday night when the Raptors take on No. 3 seed Proctor at 6:30 p.m.
Notes: Rivendell sophomore Kyle Carter was also dominant with 11 points. … WRV loses four players to graduation: Alex Kimball, Timber Russell, Slack and Perreault. The Wildcats had two sophomores in the starting lineup on Saturday, however, and Gaudette said he is excited about what’s coming back. … The VPA doesn’t allow fans into playoff games until 40 minutes before tipoff. … White River Valley waived the shootaround option at Rivendell and didn’t roll into Orford until 1:30 p.m. … The Raptor mascot was out and about during the game. He sat with the student section. … Members of the Sharon Academy basketball team, including Olly Skeet-Browning and Tyler Chapin, sat in the front row of the Rivendell section.
Pete Nakos can be reached at pnakos@vnews.com.