BARRE, Vt. — Thetford Academy’s quest for a third straight VPA Division III boys’ basketball state championship came to an end on Thursday night, when it fell to Hazen High, 69-52, in a semifinal matchup at Barre Auditorium.
An offensive lull midway through the second quarter from the No. 6 seed Panthers proved to be costly.
In what was an otherwise competitive half, the No. 2 seed Wildcats, whom Thetford had beaten in the last two state championships, took full advantage.
They put the Panthers in a nine-point hole heading into the third quarter, which they were unable to crawl their way out of.
“Aaron (Hill) is a smart coach; he turned it into a zone, and unfortunately, we couldn’t put the ball in the hoop because they moved so well from the wings to the interior,” Thetford Head Coach Jason Gray said.
“We have to be really good with our passes, and some of them weren’t very on top of it. And when you have two shooters on the team who can really light it up, and one of them doesn’t hit a shot all night long, it really sucks,” he added.
Senior Braxton Adams, who at times single-handedly tried to will the Panthers back into the game, led Thetford in scoring with 24 points. Junior Connor Sloop, who had a huge first half, dropping 12 of his 16 points on the night, was the only other Panther to score in double figures.
From the opening tip, it seemed likely that Thursday’s contest would come down to the wire as both squads traded buckets. Up until the midway point of the second quarter, the largest lead of the game was just five points.
The game was flipped on its head after the teams were tied at 29 apiece with 3:53 remaining in the second quarter.
The Wildcats ended the first half on a 9-0 run, with all their points coming from senior Morgan Michaud and junior Jameson Lamarre. The duo was Hazen’s top scorers on the night, with Michaud dropping 26 points and Lamarre adding 22 points.
Leading 38-29 to begin the third quarter, the Wildcats picked up where they left off. Hazen scored seven unanswered points to start the second half and built a 16-point lead with 5:45 left in the third frame.
Despite taking a heavy punch from the Wildcats, Thetford would not relent. The Panthers cut their deficit to as low as seven in the third quarter, in large part due to the shooting of Adams.
The senior scored 11 points in the frame, nine of which came from three-point land to give his squad a shot at a comeback.
“This team fought hard tonight — I felt like they never gave up, even with the lumps we took during the game,” Gray said.
Seven points were as close as Thetford would get. Hazen opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to go up 60-46 and never looked back.
“They deserve it, they’re good,” Gray said of Hazen. “We knocked them off last year with our team, and they came back and knew they had to beat us, so they definitely proved it.”
“The ball didn’t go in the hoop a couple of times and a couple of turnovers, and that’s what happens,” he added.