CARIBOU, Maine — The Caribou Parks and Recreation Department hosted its 42nd annual Norhern Maine Community Recreation Association Pee Wee Boys Basketball Tournament Feb. 28 and March 1. The tournament consisted of 11 teams from surrounding towns in Aroostook County including Washburn, Fort Fairfield, Mars Hill, Easton, Van Buren, Limestone, Ashland, Presque Isle and Caribou.
On the first evening, games started with Mars Hill’s sixth-graders against Easton. Mars Hill jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back as they defeated Easton 45-29 to move on. Other games on Friday were Mars Hill fifth-graders over Ashland, 30-17, and Washburn over Limestone, 23-6. Bryan Anthony’s eight points led Mars Hill, while Aidan Churchill had 10 in the Beavers’ victory.
On Saturday morning, games began with Van Buren falling 47-11 to a tough Fort Fairfield squad. Luc Perreault had a good game for Van Buren with eight points, but Fort Fairfield’s Dawson Watson had 10 to lead the way in the win.
Game two of the day saw the Caribou “B” boys played a good game against a very strong Mars Hill sixth-grade team but couldn’t pull off the upset as Mars Hill won 43-20. Caleb Espling threw in 12 points for the Vikings.
The Caribou “A” boys were matched up with the Mars Hill fifth-grade team and it took a team effort for Caribou to prevail, 45-17, as many players equally added to the scoring column. Josh Thomas from Mars Hill was high scorer in this contest with eight.
In game seven of the tournament, Presque Isle had a close matchup with Washburn, but pulled off the 23-14 victory to move into the semifinals. Noah Flynn was high scorer for Presque Isle with points, while Nate Willett and Colby Buckley both had four. Washburn’s Connor Rideout led his team with eight points.
The first semi-final game featured Mars Hill’s sixth-graders against Fort Fairfield. The Tigers went ahead early with a 14-4 lead after the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way to seal the 40-31 win. Brayden Bradbury of Mars Hill was the game’s high scorer with 17 points and was named to the all-tournament team. Watson finished with 15 points to lead the winning Tigers.
In the second semifinal, Caribou took on their neighboring community rival Presque Isle. It was all Caribou in this contest as the Vikings defeated the Wildcats, 39-17, to move onto the championship game. Presque Isle’s Buckley netted 14 and was also named to the all-tournament team. Many players contributed for Caribou, with Alex Bouchard pacing the victory with 10. Jake Berkoski added seven more for the winners.
The championship contest between Caribou and Fort Fairfield was a great game. Caribou was up by five points after the first quarter and then behind Alex Bouchard’s eight second-quarter points continued to hold the lead at halftime. Fort Fairfield down by almost 20 before making a comeback in the fourth quarter to get within nine as Watson, Chase Griffeth and Ethan Cassidy worked well together to get the team back in the game. However, Caribou did not give up and moved on to win its second consecutive pee wee tourney title by a score of 45-32.
Bouchard finished the game with a game-high 15 points. Parker Deprey added nine for the Vikes, while Berkoski and Jacob Paul notched six each.
Top scorers for Fort Fairfield were Cassidy with 10, Griffeth 7, Colby Langner with five and Watson with four.
All-tournament players from the Caribou squad were Bouchard and Deprey.
