By Timothy Kays

THE REPORTER

WEST UNITY … The Montpelier Locomotives drew the Fairview Apaches in the opening semifinal round of the 2013 Hilltop Holiday Classic in The Bunker on December 27. While neither team has seen much success in the won-lost department this season, the Locos were staring down a distinctive disadvantage from the opening whistle. Montpelier has four players that go six feet and above. On the other hand, the Apaches have two players that are not at least six feet tall, including a pair of paint pounders in Bradley Ebaugh and Daniel Smith that are both 6′ 5″.

With Ebaugh and Smith denying the interior, and the Fairview guards creating turnovers on the perimeter, the Locos fell behind early. On the defensive end, Montpelier had no answer for Smith, who simply shot the ball over anybody that the Locos put in his path. The end result was Smith banging down a game-high 21 to lead the Apaches to a 65-37 win over Montpelier.

The Locos got out to a good start on the offense with Alex Matzinger and Jared Shoup combining for ten points in the first period. The Apaches answered with Smith going off for eight, and 6′ 1″ Joe Macsay putting in 14 of his 19 points in the opening stanza. Fairview had a double-digit lead that they expanded upon all the way to the final buzzer.

Shoup, Matzinger and Nate McCord each finished with 8 points for Montpelier. Michael Blake put in 5 points, Parker Houk and Jacob Leung each had 3 points, and Dylan Snyder added a deuce.

Montpelier faces Hilltop for the third place spot in the tournament on December 29 at 6:00.

SCORING BY QUARTER:

Fairview 22 12 16 15 – 65

Montpelier 10 7 8 12 – 37

Timothy Kays can be reached at tim@villagereporter.com