INSIDE PRESENCE … Josh Tresnan-Reighard scores inside for the Panthers in their win over Montpelier. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
MONTPELIER – The story of the first half was Montpelier’s prolific three-point shooting that helped them offset 13 turnovers and take a 26-25 lead at halftime.
Montpelier’s shooting cooled in the second half (5/18) while Delta was 10/19 as they pulled away for a 55-40 nonconference win at The Railyard.
The game started with Montpelier on fire from downtown as Garrett Walz hit three triples to give the Locos a 9-3 lead.
The Panthers responded by going on 9-2 run led by seven points from James Ruple to take their first lead of the day at 12-11 with 2:18 left in the first quarter.
After Montpelier regained the lead on a three ball from Trent Thorp, Josh Tresnan-Reighard and Justin Ruple had back-to-back buckets to give Delta a 16-14 lead after one quarter.
Nolan Risner opened the second quarter with a trey to extend the Delta lead to 19-14 before Drake Sommer and Walz hit consecutive three-pointers to put Montpelier back in front 20-19.
The Locos would knock down two more triples in the quarter as the half ended with the Locos clinging to a one-point lead. Montpelier finished the first half 9/14 from the floor with eight three-pointers.
Bryce Gillen’s three-pointer began what turned out to be a big third quarter for the Panthers to give them a 28-26 advantage.
Later in the quarter after another three by Gillen made it 33-29 and when Walz went to the bench with foul trouble for Montpelier, the Panthers started to pull away.
Gillen had a steal and layup followed by Tresnan-Reighbard with two buckets inside to cap off a 9-0 run by Delta to give the Panthers a 39-29 cushion.
Delta put the game away in the opening minutes of the final quarter as Gillen nailed another triple and after a three-point play from DJ Davis on a steal and layup, the lead was 49-34 with 5:04 left.
Gillen led Delta (2-1) in scoring with 15 (13 in the second half) and James Ruple added 13 as the Panthers finished 20/42 (47%) from the field and 10/15 (66%) at the free throw line.
Montpelier ended the game 14/29 (48%) from the floor with 10 three-pointers and were guilty of 21 turnovers. Walz had 15 to top the Locos and Thorp added nine points with all their scoring coming from behind the arc.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
DELTA 16 9 16 14 – 55
MONTPELIER 14 12 5 9 – 40
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com
