Green Mountain Boys take down Arlington 59-47

By Evan Chadwick
©2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

When the three-point shot is dropping, it can be a powerful ally. For the Arlington Eagles, this early ally, which raced them out to a 9-0 lead over the Chieftains on Tuesday evening, turned into a deadly adversary, as Coach Brian Rapanotti’s Green Mountain squad forced the Eagles into difficult shots down the stretch, while the Chieftains used the three-ball of their own to close out a 59-47 victory in Arlington.

“It was a tough start for us,” said Rapanotti. “When you play a team like Arlington on the road, you don’t want to let them hang around, which we did when we came out flat in the first quarter.”

After the Eagles took the 9-point lead just two minutes into the contest, Green Mountain got on the board when Branden Rose scored on an inside drive. The Chieftains would narrow the gap further by hitting two threes, the second, being a step-back from Rose that cut the Eagle lead to 13-10, at the end of the first quarter.

An early 4-0 run to start the second gave the Chieftains their first lead of the contest at 14-13. Arlington answered on a layup and another three to reclaim the lead at 18-16 with four minutes to go in the half.

Points were scored in bunches in the closing minutes before the break, with Green Mountain scoring 15 in the span, capped by a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Eben Mosher. The Chieftains ran to the locker room with a 31-27 lead.

“Big shot by Eben to end the half,” said Rapanotti. “The difference between a one point and four point cushion can be huge.”

The locker rooms must have been extra chilly during the break as both teams started the second half missing numerous offensive opportunities from point-blank range, keeping the score knotted at 31-27 midway through the third. Arlington finally broke the ice with a 3-pointer that pulled them within one at the 5:30 mark, but Everett Mosher answered right back with a three of his own, to maintain the four point cushion for the Chieftains.

An Arlington technical foul and a Elias Stowell Aleman offensive putback had the Chieftains in control at 35-44. The physical Eagles, playing in front of an energetic home crowd, would not fold, scoring four points in the last minute to narrow the deficit to five at 39-44 heading into the fourth.

But the Chieftains won the hustle battle in the last eight minutes, earning extra possessions courtesy of the offensive rebounding prowess of Stowell Aleman. These extra offensive touches resulted in Green Mountain earning the bonus when the Eagles picked up their 7th foul at the six minute mark.

Rose immediately capitalized on this advantage hitting two free-throws that extended the Chieftain lead to 49-41 with three minutes remaining. With Green Mountain taking big chunks of the clock with each offensive possession, Arlington was forced to take quick perimeter shots that secured Green Mountain’s fourth win of the season.

“With the 30 day layoff between games I was nervous how we would respond,” said Rapanotti, whose Chieftain squad has gone 2-1 since the long delay and currently sit at 4-3 on the season. “We are farther along than I had expected, but still have a lot of room to improve.”

Everett Mosher led all scorers with 19 points, while Rose followed with 17.

Green Mountain next faces off with West Rutland at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 21 in Chester.