Boys teams eying lengthy playoff run
Sports Reporter
Maine high school basketball’s second season gets under way this week, as the regular season has been completed and the boys playoffs begin tonight (Wednesday) and continue with the Eastern Maine Tournament at the Bangor Auditorium Feb. 12-20.
Four boys teams from The Star-Herald coverage area have qualified for the tourney and are ready to make their push toward a title.
The fourth-seeded Presque Isle boys take on No. 5 Medomak Valley Saturday at 10:35 a.m. in an Eastern Class B quarterfinal. A victory in that game would send the Wildcats into the semifinals for a Feb. 18, 3:35 p.m. contest against either No. 1 Camden Hills or the winner of the No. 8 Caribou-No. 9 Mount Desert Island preliminary playoff game.
In Eastern Class D, third-ranked Fort Fairfield meets No. 6 Southern Aroostook Friday at 7:35 p.m., while No. 2 Central Aroostook plays No. 7 Shead at 9:05 p.m. in quarterfinal action. If both Fort Fairfield and Central Aroostook win, the two will square off for the third time this season in the semifinal round Feb. 18 at 2:05 p.m. The Tigers and Panthers split their two regular-season matchups, each winning on the other team’s home floor.
Fifth-ranked Washburn draws Jonesport-Beals, the No. 4 team, in another quarterfinal to be played Monday at 2:05 p.m. If the Beavers come out on top, they will play either No. 1 Schenck or the winner of the prelim between Greater Houlton Christian Academy and Deer Isle-Stonington. The semifinal is scheduled for Feb, 18 at 3:35 p.m.
If any of these teams reach the finals, those championship games will take place Feb. 20, with the state title contests set the following weekend.
Despite having lost only one game all season, the Wildcats were only able to muster the fourth seed in the upcoming EM Class B tournament.
That’s OK, according to senior captain Nate Ackerson. His reasoning?
“I think we’re really starting to click as a team,” he said. “We are just about at full strength injury wise and we have some confidence with the win over Caribou Thursday – it was a good way to end the regular season.
“It’s the perfect time to start to peak and I feel we have a good chance to compete and be in the running to go somewhere this year,” Ackerson said.
In the opening round, the Wildcats play Medomak Valley. A few of this year’s PI players are familiar with the Waldoboro-based team as the two met in the quarterfinal round in 2008, with PI able to pull off the win, thanks in part to a superb performance by Ackerson, then a sophomore.
With a win, PI could match up in the semifinals against No. 1 Camden Hills, who defeated the Wildcats in last year’s semifinal round in a game then went down to the wire. “We’d love to get the chance to play them again,” Ackerson said.
The Wildcats had a memorable regular season, with just the one loss to Ellsworth back in December. Since then, the team has reeled off 12 consecutive victories and in doing so clinched the Big East Conference championship.
Junior Travis Dyer, the team’s leading scorer, suffered an ankle injury early in the second half of a game against Bucksport Jan. 23, and senior center Ethan Braley was lost with his own ankle injury five seconds into the Old Town game. Both are rounding into game shape nicely, according to Ackerson.
Ackerson said the team’s depth has been the key ingredient in getting through those setbacks and also in normal game situations.
“We have around 10 guys who can go in and get the job done,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be one guy scoring 25 points a night.
“It’s nice to know you can go out there and play as hard as you can and have confidence a teammate can step in and fill in well while you are getting a breather,” he added. “Plus I think we have a great bond as a team. I feel we’ve really come together and everyone knows their roles.”
The Central Aroostook Panthers will take on a familiar foe when they meet Shead Saturday evening.
CA handed the Tigers a 61-49 loss in last year’s semifinals, before the Panthers were beaten by Woodland in the Eastern Class D championship game, 48-36.
It was another great year for Central Aroostook, whose only losses were to Fort Fairfield Jan. 5 and Katahdin Jan. 13. The home loss to the Cougars was especially difficult to swallow, according to junior guard Logan McLaughlin, and the team has responded with some strong play ever since.
“After that game, we knew we needed to focus on some things and do them better,” he said. “Since that game, we’ve started to play some pretty decent basketball and hopefully it’s picking up toward the tournament.”
The Panthers had a couple of late-season tests against Class C Madawaska and a formidable Washburn team that had given CA a challenge in its first meeting in Mars Hill. Central Aroostook passed both of them, winning by five points on the Owls’ home floor and belting the Beavers by 29 in Washburn. McLaughlin feels the team is correcting the problems they were struggling with early on.
“A lot of it was taking care of the ball … we were making foolish passes and opponents were getting easy layups as a result,” McLaughlin said. “Plus, our defense was having breakdowns. Now, we are starting to slow things down, run through plays and are getting out and running a little bit too.”
The third-year player said the team cannot afford to relax with the playoffs coming right up.
“We’re feeling pretty good, but we know we have a lot of work to do. We know there are teams out there that are a lot better than us, so we still need to work on a lot of things.”
Central Aroostook is led in scoring by junior forward Caleb Kelly, with McLaughlin, Mike McClung, Dan Brewer, Brenden York, Kasey Brewer, Mitch Folsom and Garrett Stiles all part of a rotation that sees plenty of court time for coach Brewer.
With less than two minutes to play in their regular season finale against Washburn Thursday, the Fort Fairfield Tigers suffered a key personnel loss when their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, junior forward Travis Noyes, went down with a sprained right ankle.
The extent of the injury was unknown at presstime, but coach Todd Alley is preparing for his team’s game against Southern Aroostook as if Noyes will not be available. However, he remains confident about his team’s chances against the Warriors, a team the Tigers do not see during the regular season.
“We are playing a quality team that will definitely test us,” Alley said. “(Dakota) Sleeper is a phenomenal player who is a dribble penetrator and also an outside shooter. He’s difficult to contain. They have some kids who can rebound and step to space and allow Sleeper to get them the basketball and hit the baskets they need to when people try to shut him down. We’re going to have to play 32 solid minutes of team defense and take care of the ball on the offensive end.”
If Noyes (15.8 points per game average, 10 rebounds per game) is unable to go, Fort Fairfield may need additional offensive contributions from senior point guard Josh Booth, who averages eight points, but is a very capable perimeter scorer, as well as Josh Churchill (6 points), Jahleel Williams (5.7 points) and Dereck Dufour (5.6 points).
The Tigers are bolstered in the post by the presence of 6-5 senior center John McNamee, who averages 11.6 points and 12.2 rebounds and is one of the most dominant big men in the Class D ranks.
Fort Fairfield heads into the tournament hoping to put behind them last year’s 53-51 loss to Bangor Christian in the quarterfinals after the Tigers had gone undefeated and were the region’s No. 1 seed.
“The hunger is definitely there,” Alley said. “Last year, we ran into a hot team and after the game everyone thought we must have coasted to an 18-0 record only to lose in the first round. I know that is on the minds of our players and they want to prove those people wrong.”
The third-year coach acknowledges that the SA game will be a challenge, but feels his team will rise to the occasion.
“We’ll have less room for error [without Noyes], but we have the athletes if we execute the game plan,” Alley said. “We have the pieces to get it done, but we might have to get it done in a different way.”
It had been a few years since the Washburn Beavers made an appearance on the Bangor Auditorium floor, but it was certainly on the minds of members of this year’s team back when the season begin in late November.
“Coach handed out cards and asked us individually what our goal was, and everyone put down “make it to Bangor,” said junior Jordan McLaughlin.
The youthful Beavers accomplished just that. Washburn’s season finale win over Fort Fairfield helped the Beavers earn a trip directly to Bangor, where it will take on Jonesport-Beals Monday Feb. 15.
Washburn’s starting five includes a freshman (top scorer Mitch Worcester), two sophomores (Chase Chandler and McLaughlin), a junior (leading rebounder Connor Fitzpatrick) and a senior (Justin Howe). Despite the young rotation, the Beavers entered the season “a lot more focused this year,” according to McLaughlin.
The squad experienced a bump in the road very early with a loss at Easton in the opener, but then started to gain confidence and recorded a big win over Southern Aroostook early in the year and another over Greater Houlton Christian Academy midway through the campaign. The highlight, however, was the win at Fort Fairfield.
“We never let up on the offensive end and we defended their perimeter game well,” said McLaughlin, who had 29 points, including five three-pointers.
Coach Randy Norsworthy has told his squad that Jonesport-Beals is a similar team to the Tigers, so Washburn is heading into the game with confidence.
“They are bigger than us and can run up and down the floor,” McLaughlin said. “Coach thinks we’ll be able to compete with them. He has us pretty confident and pretty pumped up for the game.”
The Royals went 15-3 overall and two of those losses were to Class C power Calais by a combined four points. Still, while the Beavers are glad to be a tournament team, they don’t want the ride to end too soon. McLaughlin said it has taken a team effort so far and is hoping it will continue for a few more games.
“Our team has a lot of role players,” he said. “Each win we have is the result of everyone playing their role. Our defense is improving every game too.”
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Lunging for the ball is Central Aroostook’s Garrett Stiles, right, along with Southern Aroostook’s Jesse Small.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
Fort Fairfield’s Josh Booth plays tight defense.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Dillon Kingsbury lofts a 3-pointer for Presque Isle.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
CAHS’ Logan McLaughlin, right, takes the ball strong to the hoop as Washburn’s Nick Bragg defends.
