A packed gym filled with raucous, pumped-up fans watching two bitter rivals slugging it out on the court on a cold winter night.
For high school basketball fans, that's what Friday nights are all about. And the standing room only crowd rooting for the Colonels at the BUHS gym was treated to a fantastic boys' basketball game on Feb. 3, except for the final score.
The Mount Anthony Patriots, which trailed by as many as 13 points early on, rallied to beat the Brattleboro Colonels, 52-45.
Brattleboro jumped out to a 17-6 lead in the first quarter and got the lead up to 25-12 midway through the second. But MAU came back with a 10-4 run to close out the first half to cut the Colonels' lead to 29-22.
The Patriots' 2-3 zone defense then shut down the Colonels, who saw their lead disappear midway through the third period and could never regain it.
Junior point guard Aaryngston Bibens took over the game in the final quarter for MAU, scoring 8 of his game-high 20 points. Sean Willette added 12 points to give the Patriots their fourth straight win.
Evan Mitnik (14 points), Travis Beeman-Nesbitt (11) and Jay Vinci (10) were the top scorers for the Colonels, who ended the week with a 11-3 record.
Last Tuesday, four players scored in double-figures as Brattleboro rolled over Burr & Burton, 64-42. Tommy Heydinger was high scorer with 17, followed by Soren Pelz-Walsh (13), Beeman-Nesbitt (12), and Vinci (11). A 19-6 burst in the fourth quarter put this game away for the Colonels.
Girls' basketball
• Injuries left Brattleboro so short-handed last Monday that they had only eight players available for their game at Hartford. The Colonels kept it close in the first half, but Hartford took advantage of a worn-out foe for a 56-36 win.
Mary Richardson carried most of the load for the Colonels with 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.
The Colonels fared better in Brandon last Thursday night against Otter Valley with a 48-40 win. Once again, Richardson did it all with 19 points (17 in the second half), 12 rebounds and 4 steals as the Colonels rallied from a 25-12 deficit at the half. The Colonels ended the week at 4-7.
• Twin Valley dominated the first three quarters against Springfield last Monday, but Springfield came back in the final 8 minutes for a 42-41 victory. Savannah Nesbitt had a career-high 18 points, while Lexi Reinertson added 7 points and 8 rebounds.
• Leland & Gray has won a lot of games this season using their full-court press defense, but they got a taste of their own medicine when Green Mountain used their pressure defense to come away with a 43-35 win over the Rebels last Monday in Chester. Ashley Goddard had 14 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Rebels, who were also hobbled by a 4-for-15 night at the free throw line.
The Rebels and Wildcats faced off on Friday night in Wilmington, and the Wildcats rolled to a 40-26 victory. It was an extremely physical game with lots of fouls, as you might expect between these two rivals.
Twin Valley took a page from Green Mountain's win over the Rebels earlier in the week, and used a full-court press to disrupt the Leland & Gray attack. Reinertson scored 11 to lead Twin Valley, despite missing most of the first half with an injury. Bit Aekus, Colton Butler, and Nesbitt each added 8 points.
• Arlington beat Bellows Falls, 43-29, last Monday. Emily Dufault led the Terriers with 7 points.
Boys' basketball
• Leland & Gray played great defense, but Springfield still found a way to beat the Rebels, 39-36, last Tuesday. Michael Bergeron scored 12 points and Billy Nupp added 9 for the Rebels.
The Rebels recovered with a 62-43 win at Woodstock on Friday night. Chris Lash led the way with 12 points, while Michael Bergeron and Bobby Culver each scored 10 as the Rebels ended the week at 8-4.
• Twin Valley has had a tough time this year, but the Wildcats got themselves a great pick-me-up against Division IV cellar-dwellers Black River last Tuesday. Dal Nesbitt had 27 points and 6 steals in a 63-28 victory. Colin Lozito had 13 points, 10 assists, and 7 steals, while Eli Park and Sam Molner combined for 24 rebounds.
Hockey
• The Brattleboro boys' played host to the top team in their division, U-32, and ended up with a 5-1 loss last Wednesday.
The 5-9 Colonels put lots of shots on U-32 goaltender Michael Bressette in the first 10 minutes of the game but, after that, the speed and depth of U-32 led to five unanswered tallies - three goals by Andrew Danyew and a goal each from Tyler and Kyle Elliott. Brattleboro's Senou Lynn spoiled Bressette's shutout bid with a third period goal.
On Saturday night, the Colonels hosted Woodstock and played a much more organized game in winning 2-0.
Penalty killing was a big part of this contest. The Colonels killed off a two-man advantage late in the first period, and then took 1-0 lead with 46.9 seconds left when Romello Lindsay scored the first of his two goals. Nik Rancourt and Tim Podloski picked up the assists.
Brattleboro was on the power play for most of the second and third periods as Woodstock committed seven penalties during that stretch. But Lindsay's second goal came at even-strength with 3:44 left in the second. Senou Lynn and Rancourt assisted on the insurance goal.
Greg DiSilva picked up his first career shutout in goal as the Colonels improved to 6-9.
• On Wednesday at Northfield, the Brattleboro girls almost came away with a win, but Kristen Dukette's goal with 38 seconds left helped Northfield earn a 1-1 tie.
Maddie Rollins scored the Colonels' only goal and goaltender Alex Fellows made 23 saves. Northfield goaltender Markie Dulude turned away 17 shots.
The Colonels are now 5-7-2, and are tied with Middlebury for the seventh spot in the Lake Division.
Nordic skiing
• Halie Lange won her fifth race of the season last Tuesday as the Brattleboro girls finished third overall in the Marble Valley League Championship at Grafton Ponds.
Lange covered the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 31 seconds. Teammates Linnea Jahn, Emma Straus, Helen Manning, and Leah Silverman rounded out the Colonels' top five. Mount Anthony won the team event with 16 points, followed by Woodstock with 36 and Brattleboro with 38.
The Brattleboro boys also finished third. Jacob Ellis was the top Colonel with a fifth-place finish. Teammates Graham Glennon, Noah Borochoff-Porte, and Oliver Pomazi rounded the top four. Woodstock won the team event with 18 points, followed by Mount Anthony with 30 and Brattleboro with 56.