‘Battle-tested’ White River Valley tops Hartford in holiday tournament

White River Valley head coach DJ Craven and players Greyson Russ, left,  Dawson Poland and Aiden Downing react to a play in the fourth quarter during their game with Hartford at the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)

White River Valley head coach DJ Craven and players Greyson Russ, left, Dawson Poland and Aiden Downing react to a play in the fourth quarter during their game with Hartford at the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) Jennifer Hauck / Valley News

Hartford's Noah Jenks (14) is covered by White River Valley's Braydon Russ (15), Wyatt Cadwell (11) and Dawson Poland (4) during the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59.  (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)

Hartford's Noah Jenks (14) is covered by White River Valley's Braydon Russ (15), Wyatt Cadwell (11) and Dawson Poland (4) during the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) Jennifer Hauck / Valley News

White River Valley's Zander Clark (5) chases a loose ball with Hartford's Rex Baning, (2), Ryan Murphy (32) and Noah Danieli (0) surrounding him during the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)

White River Valley's Zander Clark (5) chases a loose ball with Hartford's Rex Baning, (2), Ryan Murphy (32) and Noah Danieli (0) surrounding him during the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) Jennifer Hauck / Valley News

Natalee Cross and Cameron Craven, both 9, help with folding White River Valley's warm-up sweats before the start of their game with Hartford for the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Craven's father is the head coach of the team and his brother is a player. Cross' father is also a coach for the team. White River Valley won, 68-59.  (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck)

Natalee Cross and Cameron Craven, both 9, help with folding White River Valley's warm-up sweats before the start of their game with Hartford for the Stretch Gillam holiday tournament in White River Junction, Vt., on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Craven's father is the head coach of the team and his brother is a player. Cross' father is also a coach for the team. White River Valley won, 68-59. (Valley News-Jennifer Hauck) Jennifer Hauck

By ALEX CERVANTES

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 12-15-2024 6:01 PM

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — White River Valley High junior guard Jacob Benoit was elated; Hartford High boys basketball coach Mike Gaudette was exasperated.

In the waning moments of its 68-59 win on Friday, White River Valley pushed the ball up the floor following a Hartford miss. 

It didn’t appear to be a favorable fastbreak for the Wildcats, with four Hurricanes players clogging the paint and outnumbering Benoit and senior guard Brayden Russ in the half-court. Multiple white jerseys converged on Russ’ drive, but none of Hartford’s five players on the court accounted for the trailing Benoit.

Russ shoveled the ball back to an unmarked Benoit, who fired off a relatively clean look from deep. His 3-point hoist from the right corner kissed off the glass and fell through the nylon, pushing White River Valley’s lead to six points. The bucket — aided by a fortunate glance off the backboard — all but stamped a season-opening victory for the Wildcats.

Benoit shouted as he sprinted back on defense, his 3-pointer prompting an eruption of cheers from the Wildcat faithful that had descended upon Hanley Gymnasium. Gaudette, meanwhile, tossed his marker in the air in frustration. 

Hartford had roared out to a commanding 28-11 lead early in the second quarter. But Gaudette could only watch as his team’s double-digit lead slowly evaporated, a combination of defensive lapses, poor rebounding and dry spells offensively plaguing his team in the second half. It paved the way for White River Valley to erase a double-digit deficit en route to a season-opening victory.  

“They were more physical than us,” Gaudette said of White River Valley. “We have a good team. They’re a good team. But we were just a little bit lazy tonight.”

The Wildcats, who had been the victim of a furious late-game comeback in the state semifinals last season, had engineered one of their own to open the 2024-25 season. White River Valley outscored Hartford, 17-9, in the fourth quarter after taking a lead midway through the third frame. 

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To third-year coach D.J. Craven, the victory is a testament to the resiliency of a “battle-tested” and “mature” group. For Russ, one of four senior starters, the win is a tone-setter for the season.

“We realize we have the ability to come back, we have the ability to play great basketball,” said Russ, who poured in 23 points. “We finally realized that after the first quarter and we didn’t look back.”

The first day of the fourth annual Stretch Gillam Tipoff Classic saw White River Valley and Green Mountain Union open their seasons with wins. The two met in the championship game on Saturday, with Craven’s Wildcats emerging victorious, 66-33, behind a game-high 21 points from senior forward Zander Clark. Hartford routed Oxbow, 72-30, in the consolation game. 

Here are three takeaways from Friday’s pair of games.

White River Valley fueled by last season’s postseason exit: Only a few hours before tipoff, Craven’s team wanted to see the film of the Wildcats’ division semifinal tilt against Thetford last March. It was a chance to witness the first-half offensive eruption that saw them claim a 20-point lead early in the third quarter only for it to all unravel in the subsequent fourth-quarter implosion, a mere eight minutes away from a state title game berth. 

Craven said his team gets sick of watching the film when the clock hits about 4 minutes left in the game. They know what’s coming. The turnovers. The stagnant offense. The missed shots careening off the rim as the precious seconds tick away. It’s not fun to relive, but White River Valley does it. 

The manner in which the Wildcats’ 2023-24 campaign ended left a “bad taste,” Russ said. This team — led by its senior backcourt tandem of Russ and Wyatt Cadwell, who combined for 41 points in the win against Hartford — is looking to exorcise its postseason demons.

“Rather than just trying to move past it, they’ve figured out what the issues are and move forward,” Craven said of his team. “They don’t just forget about it and move on. They figure it out. And they’re special.”

Craven contends they’ll continue watching the Thetford film, too, if not just for the sake of superstition, but also as a continual reminder of where White River Valley wants to get: back to Barre Auditorium.

Oxbow hopeful lower-level success translates: Baby steps. That’s the one thing Oxbow second-year coach Jesse Ellsworth is attempting to remind himself as the 2024-25 campaign gets underway, which began with a loss, 52-33, to Green Mountain Union.

In his first year at the program’s helm, Ellsworth led the Olympians to five wins. He said he remembered people coming up to him to celebrate reaching that number, a mark that eclipsed the total combined wins amassed during the previous two seasons. 

Oxbow has been unable to recapture the magic of Gillam’s nine-year tenure or from David McGinn’s state title-winning team in 1993. The Olympians haven’t posted a winning record since 2002. The last team to appear in the state semifinals was the 2000 squad, helmed by Gillam and featuring Ellsworth, who was a senior.

Sure, this year — just like every year — the goal is to get to the Aud, to secure the program’s first state title game appearance since 1995. But realistically, staying consistently competitive and increasing the win total year-over-year are the two main priorities, Ellsworth said. 

Ellsworth, whose son, Kobin, is a sophomore starter at point guard, hopes that the continuity and success this crop of Oxbow sophomores and juniors have had at the AAU and junior high level translates to varsity play. Inevitably, that’ll take some time, especially as the Olympians attempt to shake off their rust offensively — they scored 11 first-half points in their defeat Friday.

Still, the incremental growth is what’s key for Ellsworth and Oxbow.

“This group really believes they can make some noise,” Ellsworth said. “... We’re hoping that as these kids get to be juniors and seniors, (AAU success) translates, because we’re playing a lot of the same kids. So that’s the hope, that we can be more competitive every year, get a little bit better.”

Hartford’s young squad takes its first lump: With 78 seconds remaining in the game, White River Valley had the ball on the baseline, up by six points. Gaudette tried to warn his team out of the timeout that the Wildcats would jump at the chance to throw the ball deep, so one Hurricane defender should station themselves at mid-court. He didn’t want anyone guarding the player inbounding the ball.

But sure enough, there was no white jersey at mid-court once the players returned to the floor. Seeing the vacant space, Cadwell looped a ball down the court to Russ, who was a step ahead of Hartford junior guard Kole Fotion and ultimately laid the ball in. 

The defensive lapses were aplenty for Hartford on Friday. Screen navigation, less-than-stellar communication and poor rebounding hampered the Hurricanes from the second quarter on. 

The Hurricanes graduated seven from last season’s squad — a group that led the program to its first state title game since 1933 — and Gaudette returns just three players: Fotion, junior guard Noah Danieli and junior center Ryan Murphy. Couple the roster inexperience with only four days of practice and Hartford’s slip-ups are understandable.

Without a single senior on its roster, the Hurricanes are desperate for in-game experience, Gaudette said. He maintains that honing their performance on the defensive side of the floor, the program’s trademark, will take some time. So too will the development of the team’s leaders. 

He isn’t panicking, though. 

“We’re not rebuilding,” said Gaudette, now in the third year of his second stint at Hartford. “We have the talent, we just need the varsity experience.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.