Bartlett thumps Leicester 85-73

By Steev Riccardo

The Bartlett Indians took apart the winless Leicester Wolverines on Monday night 85-73 in a Southern Worcester County League Game played at the Bartlett Gym.

Senior Indian co-captain Nick Kobel scored 19 points and dished out 8 assists in leading his team to victory in a game they controlled from start to finish.

The Indians started the game on fire and connected for six first quarter three-pointers. Kobel hit three from outside the arc, Evan Anderson hit a pair, and Matt Huberdault added another long range bomb as the Indians leaped to a 28-11 lead after one.

Alexander Givens-Perry(30) goes up over Tyler Godney
for a layup. Photos by Don Cote

The Wolverines tightened their defense in the second quarter and actually outscored the Indians 15-13 and cut the halftime lead to 41-26, despite six points from junior forward Akeem Belnavis.

Both teams exchanged hoops in the third quarter and that was fine with the Indians who had a comfortable 63-46 lead going into the final stanza.

Kobel and Alex Givens-Perry scored 6 points apiece and Bartlett head coach Tony Paranto was able to unload his bench with just less than three minutes left.

Paranto was pleased with the way his team came out and played well early. “I thought we shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter and had seven three pointers in the first half. You hope that you can do those things in your own gym.  Defensively, we transitioned really well into our offense. We created the tempo, which caused steals and if we have the kids to put the ball in the basket.”
 
The coach also was pleased with sophomore Anderson’s play who hit his first two three-pointers to get the ball rolling. ““Teams put their best defenders on Kobel and Belnavis and try to stop them and Evan had the shots, took them, and made them. Its great that he’s taking those shots. We want him to shoot”.Belnavis lead all Bartlett scorers with 21 points and 9 rebounds, Kobel, who needed 28 points to reach 1000 points in his incredible career had 19, and Anderson added 10 points.

Junior co-captain Huberdault played a fine overall game with 11 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals.
Bartlett sub Zach Rainey brought the house down connecting on his first three shots in the final minutes.

The Bartlett junior varsity also won beating the Wolverines junior squad 68-59.
 Anthony Higbie, who has been a major scorer for the Indians, led the way with 26 points, Jacob Simonis had 10, and Anthony “The Bull” Caffarelli scored 10 and had a monster game on the boards.
 
Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with comments.

More photos by Don Cote

 
Akeem Belnavis (22) takes it to the hoop.

Nick Kobel (23) looks for a little help after coming
down with a rebound.

Andrew Meloche pulls down a rebound in heavy traffic.