If Vermont boys coach Phil Bartlett had dreams of his team playing the perfect game in the inaugural All-Star Challenge against Western Massachusetts, it probably looked very similar to the way his team played in the first half of Saturday's game at College of St. Joseph.

His squad defended with tenacity, ran the floor well and hit the open man. It all translated to a 38-34 halftime lead that could have been even larger if they had shot the ball well from the outside.

But basketball was invented in Western Massachusetts and its team played as though they owned the game in the second half, rolling to an easy 96-80 victory.

The architect of this second half domination was Frontier Regional's Brian Clark who won MVP honors with 24 points.

"We didn't have a good first half and being down by only four, we knew we could do much better by coming out strong," Clark said. "We didn't change anything offensively or defensively. Mentally we just came together."

"We were aggressive on defense. And I think our aggressiveness got them to the line and they made their fouls shots. That really hurt us," Vermont's Jeff Danyew (Windsor) said.

Clark had double-digit support from Ed Carter (18 points), Alex Klepadlo (14) and Willy Workman (12).

During the four days of camp, Bartlett said that the big surprise on the team had been Essex's 6-foot-5 Rusmir Dzanko. He was just as good on game day. Dzanko led all scorers with 25 points and drained three 3-pointers.

West Rutland's Greg Hughes was very disruptive to the Western Massachusetts offense. He scored 12 points to go with his outstanding defensive effort.