WASHBURN, Maine – Despite missing senior center Steven Pesut, who is out with a wrist injury, the Washburn boys’ varsity basketball team kept things close through the first half of play, but Central Aroostook used a pesky man-to-man defense to pull away for the 53-27 win in Friday night’s hoop action.
The Beavers pulled within six in the opening minutes of the second half as Adam Thompson nailed one of his two three-point shots on the evening. Washburn stole the inbounds pass but Central Aroostook’s Manny Martinez returned the favor and found senior guard Sam Clockedile waiting under the basket for the finish.
The Panthers threw a wide array of offensive looks at their opponents including several tosses into 6-8 senior center Silas Kelly, who Clockedile says has been key to the team’s success this year.
“Adding Silas changed the entire face of our offense,” Clockedile said. “We had to readjust but he fits in really well and we were all friends before so it’s been really easy to gel with him.”
Central Aroostook spread the wealth around getting eight guys in on the scoring, but Washburn showed they’re capable of playing with the defending state champs in the early going.
Without Pesut, the Beavers’ offense fell on the shoulders of Thompson with Matt Connolly and Alex Morrow providing post threats as well. Connolly showed nice dribbling moves to shake defenders, but inside shots weren’t falling and neither team was allowing extra looks.
Central Aroostook pulled ahead 25-14 by halftime, though defensively the teams still appeared even with the Panthers pulling down 12 rebounds to Washburn’s 11 and grabbing eight steals to Washburn’s six.
“We had a pretty poor offensive performance tonight,” Clockedile said. “Coach [Tim Brewer] tells us to act like we’re playing for a championship every night and we didn’t play to our ability tonight.”
The Beavers hit back-to-back long shots to open the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to open up a comeback.
Leading Central Aroostook was Kelly and Martinez with 12 points each followed by Tim Carlson with 11. The Panthers took a 27-22 rebounding edge and added 11 steals.
Thompson led Washburn with 22 points and Connolly added nine boards.
Central Aroostook improves to 7-0 on the season and moves into third place in Eastern Maine Class D boys’ basketball while Washburn falls to 3-4 and 13th position.
Central Aroostook hosts Wisdom Thursday night at 6 p.m. and travels to Hodgdon for a 7 p.m. Saturday game.
Next up for Washburn is Limestone Community School/Maine School of Science and Mathematics at home Thursday starting at 7 p.m. and Greater Houlton Christian Academy in the second game of a girl/boy double-header at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Monday also at 7.
