During a back-and-forth fourth quarter, it appeared the team who had possession last was going to be the winner of the much anticipated rematch between the boys basketball teams of Rice and Mt. Mansfield.
After Casey Tipson converted two free throws to give Rice a one-point lead, five seconds remained on the clock for Mt. Mansfield to score a game-winning basket and preserve their unbeaten start to their season.
It turned out the Cougars did not have that chance.
Rice’s Jake Maynard sprinted up the court and threw his hand in front of a pass intended for wide-open MMU center Eric Suder. Maynard was fouled on the play and converted a free throw to seal Rice’s 53-51 win and end Mt. Mansfield’s undefeated season.
“I timed it well I guess you could say,” said Maynard of his steal. “Suder is a good player and he runs the floor well so I knew he would try to run up the floor. I cheated ahead of him, reached out my hand and the ball was there to grab.”
While Maynard’s defensive play saved the game for Rice, it was Tipson’s second half offensive surge that helped the Green Knights to victory. The junior guard scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, including draining all three of his three-point attempts.
“Once we were down I thought I might as well step up and lead us to victory,” said Tipson. “We went back and forth. That’s just what good teams do: keep battling. We had to keep our composure.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Mt. Mansfield | 9 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 51 |
| Rice | 12 | 12 | 9 | 20 | 53 |
Maynard also finished with 16 points for Rice (10-1). Tim Rensch contributed 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Green Knights. Rice made seven of their eleven attempts at the free throw line.
“Jake is turning into a major leader for us on both ends,” said Rice head coach Paul Pecor. “He stepped up big time. The game could have gone either way. We could have lost by 15 or it goes the way it did tonight. They hit big shots and we hit some big shots. I would love to play that one again—very exciting.”
Mt Mansfield (11-1) trailed by five with two minutes to play but MMU went on a 6-0 run, capped by Tom Lacy’s three-pointer, putting Mt. Mansfield on top 51-50 with 35 seconds to play.
Rice led 24-17 at halftime but TJ Wesson’s three-pointer at the 3:13 mark of the third quarter was the icing on a 10-0 stretch that put Mt. Mansfield up 33-30 for their first lead of the night.
The Cougars looked in control as they eventually led 40-35 with less than six minutes to play. Rice roared back with a three from Tommy Fitzgerald followed by a go-ahead three from Tipson—part of a 8-1 run that gave Rice the lead 43-41.
Rice had to come back without the help of Marcus Willingham who fouled out in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. The junior guard finished with four points and seven rebounds.
Tom Lacy led Mt. Mansfield with 19 points and six rebounds. Eric Suder scored 14 points and Cody Sharrow added six rebounds for the Cougars. MMU made nine of ten free throws.
The win was the tenth straight for the defending Division I champions. Rice’s only setback was their opening game at Mt. Mansfield—a 45-32 defeat.
Rice travels to North Country Monday. Mt. Mansfield hosts Essex in their next game, also on Monday.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM TONIGHT BY SHANE BUFANO PHOTOGRAPHY – MMU at RICE
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what a terrific high school basketball game. The atmosphere was electric and both teams played great basketball. I can’t wait to see chapter 3. Its a toss-up as to who really is the better team.
A third game would be awesome but we should not get our hopes up. Hopefully we are that lucky. The rest of the schedule looks like JV games compared to last night. I hope Rutland at Rice will be as exciting on Feb 25.
Sounds cheesy but this was one of those games both teams really deserved to win. I am actually really surprised Rice won because it did not look good when Marcus fouled out with 7 minutes still to play.
Also how well did Tom Fitzgerald play? He is only a sophomore and ran the point like a pro and even hit a big three.
It was certainly a great game. A few bad calls, but they went both ways. Either team could have won, and both played their hearts out. I wish both teams luck in their endeavor to meet again at Patrick. We have 7 or 8 games to go, and a lot can happen, including injuries, or just bad days.
Just a question: Not that it matters right now since it’s so close anyway, but which team is rated number 1 at this point? Do they look at games, scores, last year’s ratings, or what?