Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Dylan Belanger did not score a point in Valley's quarterfinal win over Greenville on Saturday. He was scoreless for first 31 minutes, 50 seconds of the the Cavaliers' Western D semifinal game against Hyde on Wednesday.
Then he made the biggest field goal of the game.
Belanger took a pass from a driving Carrington Miller and layed it in with 10 seconds left to tie the game. Valley won 55-53 after a Hyde turnover on an inbound play with 5.1 seconds left and a pair of foul shots by Miller to advance to its first regional final since 2008.
Belanger struggled against Greenville, missing a few layups on similar plays to his big shot. Due to his struggles, Belanger asked coach Wade Morrill for some help after practice this week.
"All season I've been cutting behind guys and making that shot, but lately, I don't know what's been going on," Belanger, a junior, said. "Yesterday in practice, Coach took the pad and was bumping me and we've been doing drills to finish."
Morrill said he spent about 20 minutes after practice working with Belanger, at the request of Belanger. Morrill used a pad to bump Belanger as he tried to make layups, with passes from Miller.
"The last two practices we've been hitting him with that pad when he's shooting layups and throwing him bad passes to make sure he's catching them," Miller said. "He made a big shot for us tonight."
TweetGary Hawkins has worked at the Kennebec Journal since 1980. His primary beats are baseball, boys basketball, girls and boys soccer and golf.
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