by Ken Brown
CRAFTSBURY – The Craftsbury Academy (CA) boys’ basketball team lost a nailbiter to Christ Covenant last week before struggling in a pair of home and home matchups against division III Oxbow, falling to 1-12 on the season.
Simon, Nathan, and Patrick Mulligan all scored in double figures to help Christ Covenant hold off the Chargers on the road last Monday 52-50. Freshman Landon Miller’s 15 points gave CA a four point edge at the break, but the Saints would flip it to a two point lead in their advantage after three quarters. The two teams went back and forth the last eight minutes, but Christ Covenant was efficient at the free throw line and took care of the basketball down the stretch to earn the win. Dylan Washer added 14 points for the Chargers in the loss.
“That was a tough loss for sure and it is hard when you’re right there and can’t quite get it done, but you learn valuable lessons in close games like this,” said head coach Sean Ryan. “We had some good stretches, but just turned the ball over way too many times in crucial situations and those are killers. Landon is still young and streaky, but he is starting to develop more and giving us more of a balance to compliment Dylan,” added Ryan.
Ethan Davis scored 21 points and senior Chase Lund added 18 to lead Oxbow to a convincing 76-37 home win over the Chargers last Wednesday. Dylan Washer was the only hot hand for CA, pouring in a game-high 23 in the loss. Seventeen first-half turnovers by CA, put them in an early hole that they could not dig out of. The Olympians came to the Common over the weekend for the rematch and were led by 13 points from Braxton Adams for a 57-33 win and a season series sweep. Dylan Washer led the Chargers with 14 points in a spirited first half that only saw them down just seven. Miller added eight, but with only seven players dressed, the Olympians would wear them down in the second half to break the game open for their third win of the season.
“The guys did a great job of matching up with Lund in the second game, holding him to just four points. We took care of the ball better in that first half, breaking their press and getting some easy buckets. They have twice as many players on their roster, so eventually we just ran out of gas, but I liked the adjustments we executed and the way the guys competed. We have some tough teams ahead of us this week, but I want to see some improvement in ball movement and cutting down our turnovers. If we can do those things, we’ll be much more competitive against the better teams in this league the second time around,” said Ryan.
The Chargers traveled to Twinfield-Cabot on Monday and will stay on the road against Division IV defending champion Blue Mountain on Wednesday night. They are scheduled to wrap up their week with a home date against Danville on Friday.
