By; Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
MONTPELIER (February 11, 2025) – All season long Montpelier basketball coach Nick Ramos has been like Emeril on the Food Network, cooking up wins at nearly an 80 percent clip.
His latest recipe included a big first quarter helping of Kenneth Smeltzer, a big helping of CJ Fidler along with a number of other ingredients in the middle and finally a dash of Bass, as in 6’5 sophomore Gavyn Bass to finish a 62-48 triumph over Fairview.
“The one thing we were trying to do was when they went to the press, we wanted to get somebody in the middle and push the ball up the sidelines and see if we could get someone open on the sideline”, Ramos said of the Locos fourth quarter burst that opened the game. “That seemed to work well for us.”
The win was the 15th against four losses for the Locos while Fairview dropped to 8-13.
That double order of Smeltzer in the first turned into a triple, as the 6’1 junior meshed a pair from outside the arc, along with a baby hook off glass, and a putback to offset 12 first quarter points from Fairview’s Noah Shininger.
A Hayden Sharps triple and Fidler’s runout hoop with 30 seconds left gave Montpelier a 17-15 lead heading into the second.
After Logan Mosier knotted the game back up int he first 30 seconds, Sharps and Smeltzer rang up the next seven points, giving Montpelier a 24-17 margin.
Levi Panico brought the Apaches back to a 27-24 deficit by half, scoring the final seven Fairview points, the last three coming on a shot just inside the halfcourt line that rattled off glass and in.
After Smeltzer and Fidler extended the Loco lead to 31-24, Panico and Kale Salyers hit from long range to chop the Loco lead to 31-30 halfway through the third.
Pile on a heaping helping of Fidler. The high scoring freshman tallied eight straight Loco points, including a triple, three-point play and a baseline jumper at the third quarter horn to put Montpelier on top 41-33.
“Our third quarters have been our best quarter,” Ramos said. “Especially in the second half of the season.”
“I think defensively that’s when we really turned it up and we locked in and at least stayed in front of them and give them problems all over the floor.”
Each time the Locos put distance between them and the Apaches, Fairview wouldn’t go away as the margin fluctuated between five and nine points through the fourth.
Jonah Shininger’s three-pointer with 4:24 to go got the Apaches within 49-44 but Joel Saneholtz’s bucket in transition extended the lead.
Panico’s hoop with 2:21 to go kept Fairview in striking distance at 54-48, but a dash of Bass put it away.
Bass scored on a dish from Smeltzer, then canned his second triple of the quarter at the 1:47 mark to give the Locos a 59-48 advantage. Fidler’s 3/4 from the line finished it off.
Smeltzer led all scorers with 24 with Fidler adding 18 and Bass got all 10 of his in the fourth quarter.
Panico paced Fairview with 23 and Shininger had 12, all in the first quarter.
FAIRVIEW (48) – Salyers 5; Zeedyk 3; Olinger 0; Panico 23; J. Shininger 3; Williams 0; N. Shininger 12; Mosier 2; Totals: 13-4-10 – 48
MONTPELIER ((62) – Saneholtz 2; Sharps 8; Fidler 18; Hartsock 0; Alvira 0; Bass 10; Smeltzer 24; Totals: 17-7-7 -62
FHS 15 9 9 15 – 48
MHS 17 10 14 21 – 62
Junior Varsity: Fairview, 64-28
