Guy Ghosts Drop Two
By Cody Montgomery

The Randolph boys dropped to 2-3 after a one-point loss to Oxbow away last Thursday, and a nine-point loss to Vergennes yesterday at home.

Vergennes Loss

The Ghosts’ ice cold shooting and a slow third quarter led to their demise in a 53-44 loss at home against Vergennes Monday.

Randolph’s defense held Vergennes to eight points in the first quarter as eight of the Ghosts’ 12 points came from the bench. David Dube ended the quarter at the buzzer with a rebound and putback off the glass to give the Ghosts a four-point advantage heading into the second quarter.

In the second period, Connor Fowler drained a wide-open three and a jumper to give the Ghosts a seven-point advantage with four minutes left. Vergennes added a bucket before a fire alarm halted the game for about 10 minutes. The Commodores then went on a 7-4 run to close the quarter down by one point, 21-20.

Another slow Randolph third quarter allowed Vergennes to climb in the driver’s seat, and take the lead 37-28 at the end of three, despite six points from Fowler. After being tied 28-28, Vergennes went on an 11-0 run to end the quarter ahead by nine.

Randolph again traded baskets with the Commodores for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, getting much of their scoring from the offensive glass. Kyle Connolly and Fowler scored for Randolph but Vergennes scored on many Ghost turnovers, putting the game out of reach.

Fowler led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds for Randolph. White had six points off the bench, Mike Czok and Riley had four, Connolly had three, Dube, Cody Montgomery and David Cooch added two points apiece, and Zack Allard rounded out the scoring with a foul shot. Randolph’s bench scored 16 points.

"It was the third quarter again. We came out flat and we were terrible offensively" said coach Bruce Viens after the game. "We’ve done it every game."

Oxbow Loss

The Randolph boys led at halftime but couldn’t hold off Oxbow as they lost 44-43 last Thursday.

Despite an Oxbow team, the Ghosts scored half of their first quarter points in the paint. After the first eight minutes, Randolph led 14-12.

Randolph’s offense cooled off in the second quarter, only scoring nine, but the defense held the Olympians to 10. Tillberg and Fowler scored six in the paint early in the quarter, but the offense slowed down after that. Oxbow took the lead 22-20, but a Fowler foul shot and White lay-in put the Ghosts back up by one at the break.

Tillberg opened the third quarter by scoring again down low, but the Olympians’ offense went on an 11-0 run to put them up by eight. Connolly finally hit a jumper and Fowler hit back-to-back treys to bring the Ghosts within four, 37-33 at the end of the third quarter.

Randolph traded baskets with the Olympians while playing tough defense for most of the final quarter. A Jacobs basket underneath put the Ghosts within one point of Oxbow with just a minute left. Randolph got the ball with three seconds left and got it inside to Jacobs, but the ball bounced off the front of the rim and out as time expired, leaving the Ghosts down, 44-43.

Fowler again was high scorer with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Tillberg had eight, Jacobs four with seven rebounds. Czok, Allard, White, and Connolly all had two points apiece.

JV Boys

The JV boys lost to Vergennes 80-51. The high scorers were Sam Lyons with nine, Andrew McClure with eight, and freshman Dylan Smith with eight. Nine players scored for the JV squad.

After being down in the third quarter, the JV boys came back and won 40-39 over Oxbow on an inbound play to Sam Lyons for the lay-in with four seconds left. Jason Hicks had 15, and Lyons had 10.

The Guy Ghosts play Lyndon at home tonight, Dec. 21, and play Northfield away Wednesday, Dec. 27.

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