On The Double, Woodstock’s Twins To Play In Twin State Game

By David Miles, Sports Correspondent

It’s called the Twin State Basketball Classic for geographic reasons, not because of the participants. Still, who better to represent the Vermont squad against New Hampshire in Saturday’s annual match-up of senior hoops talent than Woodstock twins Dylan and Hunter McDonough?

This is the second consecutive year that Woodstock has had a pair of teammates in the annual game. That’s quite an honor for any team, much less a non-Division I team, as players from the biggest schools tend to gobble up the lion’s share of the roster spots every year. Seven of the 12 players on this year’s Vermont team are former D-I players.

“It’s amazing to have two players on the team in back-to-back years,” said retiring WUHS basketball coach Jeff Thomas. “It shows that Woodstock basketball is really on the map.” Connor Fegard and Kurt Ryder represented the Wasps in the 2015 contest.

The twins really put in the work to make the Green Mountain State team. They attended all three try-outs, whereas players were only required to participate in one.

“We wanted to showcase our talents,” said Hunter. “We felt like we had good try-outs. It was important to try and stand out from the crowd.” With over 50 players trying to squeeze into those 12 roster slots, that extra effort certainly did not hurt.

Thomas was not really surprised that Jake Eaton, the head coach at Proctor High School, picked them for his squad. He knew both players had the talent to contribute to the Vermont team.

“I told Jake that Hunter was the better all-around player, but that Dylan was the better shooter,” said Thomas. “It depended on what he wanted for the team.

“Hunter told me that he shot really well in the try-outs, but Jake said that Dylan shot well. I think maybe he had them mixed up. Why not, people can never tell them apart most of the time. I sometimes have trouble, even after four years.”

The tryouts took place in March, after the annual North-South All-Star games that pit Vermont seniors against each other in a kind of preamble to the selection of student-athletes for the Twin State Classic.

“We were in physics class in late March when we got an email from Coach Eaton telling us that we had both been picked,” said Dylan. “We were pretty pumped up.

“And it’s especially meaningful to do it together. It’s an awesome way to cap off our high school careers. We’ve both pushed each other year after year to reach this point.”

“It’s an honor to represent Woodstock at the state level,” added Hunter.

The brothers have played hundreds of games of one-on-one against each other over the years. “We both have our good days,” says Hunter. “It’s a pretty even match-up,” declining to suggest that one of the two may win more often than the other.

“What it’s done is make us better offensive players, developing moves that allow us to take one another off the dribble. We have better footwork, spin moves, that sort of thing.” That, of course, has led to making the twins stronger defensively as well.

Their role on the Vermont team is uncertain and will be up to Coach Eaton. They hope to play with one another, but, as Dylan puts it, “We may have similar roles which could mean we don’t spend much time on the court together.”

The duo is spending this week together assisting with a basketball camp at Woodstock Union High School. Dylan describes it as a “little boot camp. We’re trying to get our dribbling and our ball handling a little more tight. Having the ball in our hands all week will help.”

After the game the brothers hope to play some summer basketball, but nothing is set yet. And in the fall they will part ways, with Hunter heading to the University of Maine and Dylan to the University of Vermont.

“It will be a big change,” said Hunter of not being in step with his brother for the first time in almost two decades. “But it’s all part of growing up.” With the two interested in different fields of study, attending different colleges made sense.

Although D-I basketball is not in their plans, the twins hope to pursue club basketball on the collegiate level. “If that happens, we could wind up playing against one another,” said Hunter. “That would be pretty exciting.”

But before that possibly happens, there is one more time to suit up together as teammates. The game will be played on Saturday, June 25 at NHTI a community college in Concord, NH. It is the second game of a doubleheader, following the girls’ Twin State Classic match-up at 1 p.m. The boys’ tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.

This article first appeared in the June 23, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.