Randolph Boys Lose Close One
By David Cooch

The Randolph boys basketball team dropped their final contest of the month on Friday the 29^th against Peoples academy. The boys, who were looking to end the month with a 3-2 record, came out flat, and lost the low scoring affair 33-32.

Randolph was unable to overcome their poor shooting, which persisted for the entire game, as Peoples Academy’s zone forced Randolph outside. The struggle to score was present from the beginning, as it took over three minutes for Randolph to score their first basket. People’s did not fare much better, but found themselves ahead of the Ghosts 8-5 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was virtually identical, as the zone played by both teams kept shooters from getting into a flow. Baskets from Kyle Connolly, Josh Ferris, and Jon White gave Randolph 12 points at the half, matched against People’s 14.

In the second half both teams managed to increase their scoring, and kept the game neck and neck. For Randolph, the first half of the quarter was the same story, but after finding themselves down by five points, 21-16, Randolph finally began to break away from their scoring woes. A steal and lay-up by Dylan Smith sparked an 8-1 run in the final two minutes with points by White, Sam Lyons, Andrew McClure, and Connolly. The quarter ended with Randolph up 26-24.

A jumper by Lyons to start the fourth brought Randolph’s lead to four, but it was quickly countered by a Peoples Academy three, and then a lay-up to retake the lead. Another steal and basket by Smith allowed Randolph to go ahead 30-29. Peoples once again took the lead as the game entered the late stages, only to have a White basket take it away.

To this point, Randolph had managed to counter their bad shooting with limited turnovers, but made two key ones at the end, one which gave Peoples the go-ahead basket. After Peoples missed their late game foul shot, and Randolph secured the rebound, they found themselves on their sideline with 2.8 seconds remaining. They were unable to make their jump-shot, however, and the game ended 33-32.

Jason Hicks controlled the glass well, earning 10 rebounds, while Connolly had eight rebounds and eight points, and White scored nine.

The JV boys lost as well.

The boys are now 2-3, and played Lyndon home Wednesday the 2^nd, and Lamoille away Friday the 4^th.

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