Bartlett vs. Shepherd Hill Friday night

By Steev Riccardo

A big weekend is coming up in local sports as Bartlett prepares to clash with Shepherd Hill on the basketball court this coming Friday night in Dudley. At press time, the Rams were 9-2 while the Indians stood at 8-3. With both teams having strong campaigns, something has to give on Friday.
Last season when the two teams met, the Rams came away with a 68-56 victory.  The Rams are the favorites, but the Indians are a much better team this year, which means it could be a real battle and probably will be.

Bartlett head coach Tony Paranto said, “We obviously play one game at a time but I think the kids in the back of their minds are looking at the rivalry with Shepherd Hill.”  Bartlett players DJ Kirby-Thomas and Akeem Belnavis surely remember what happened to them this past season on the football field when they were beaten badly by the Rams at home.

Matt Huberdault: Last Wednesday Bartlett junior co-captain Matt Huberdault had a break-out game against the Grafton Indians in his teams’ 79-54 victory.  Huberdault was six for nine from the floor, scoring 17 points, while dishing out five assists.

Huberdault wasted no time following up that game with another 17- point effort in Bartlett’s 74-69 win over Millbury.  Coach Paranto said his junior star was getting hot at the right time and he’s right about that.

The thing that you have to really like about Huberdault’s game is the way he plays hard the entire time he is on the court. His effort is tremendous and when he scores like he did last week, it’s an added bonus.

Slam-dunk: Bartlett’s Akeem Belnavis threw down his second outstanding dunk of the season last Friday against Millbury. Seeing this high flier, who is still a junior, show off his athleticism has been a real pleasure this season.  Things are only going to get better for the green machine with this kid around. 

Central Mass hoops scoring leaders: At press time, Bartlett’s Nick Kobel was tied for fourth in the Central Mass scoring race with a 21.4 average. Bay Path Regional’s TJ Gentry is twelfth with a 19.3 average.  Oxford High continues to get some quality scoring from Cody Stone who is at 15.3.  Shepherd Hill’s Chris Patrinos is 13.7, Kobel’s high flying teammate Akeem Belnavis is at 13.5 and the Rams Jesse Gilchrist is at 13.3.

Meghan Fornaro of Shepherd Hill continues to lead all local high school girls with a 19.5 average. Lauren Puishys of Oxford is second amongst the locals with a 12.7 scoring average.  Fornaro’s teammate Brooke Packard is at 10.5. Lindsay Bond leads Bartlett with a 10.0 average.

BHS football banquet: We are looking forward to attending the Bartlett High School football banquet at Point Breeze in Webster this Saturday. The event will feature video highlights, team awards, and dinner.  It’s a lock that the video segment will feature “The Play” from the David Prouty game at Worcester Tech. Expect a full report of the evening’s events in next week’s column.

Correction department: Last week in my story about the Bartlett high brother and sister tandem of Nikita and Deanna Truhanovitch, we called their older sister Amanda; she is actually Amber. Sorry about that kids!

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