LEE, Maine — The reigning Class C state champion Houlton boys basketball team nearly was taken by surprise on their home court three weeks ago, when Lee Academy devoted two defenders to All-Maine standout Kyle Bouchard while taking their chances with a three-player zone defense against the other four Shiretowners on the court.
Houlton escaped with a two-point victory in that matchup. But with the Pandas lacking that element of surprise for Monday night’s rematch, the Shiretowners built a big early lead and used a balanced attack to secure a 65-47 victory over Lee at Mallett Gymnasium.
Senior center Christian Crane paced Houlton offensively with 18 points, while senior guard Noah Holmes added 15 points and backcourt mate Jake Drew contributed 11.
Bouchard, limited to just six points in the earlier game against Lee, patiently contributed 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots to the cause.
“We see junk defenses all the time,” Houlton coach Rob Moran said. “We’ve been working on it a lot, and all five starters can shoot the ball a little bit and pass the ball well. So if we’re patient, we can make them pay. Tonight we were very patient, especially in the first half.”
Houlton (9-2) put on a second-quarter clinic against first Lee’s inverted triangle-and-two, with two defenders guarding Bouchard, followed by a box-and-one also focused on the 6-foot-5-inch senior swingman.
While Bouchard drew most of the attention, the rest of the Shiretowners drove into the lane, often setting up two-on-one situations that led to layups. Houlton had 10 assists on its 14 first-half field goals.
Crane was the chief beneficiary, scoring 14 first-half points on six-of-six shooting from the field, mostly close-range shots from within the paint.
“We knew we had to take it to the basket,” Crane said. “We’ve been practicing against all kinds of zone defenses with someone on Kyle, and we knew if we took it to the middle we’d draw the defense to us and there would be an open man.”
Holmes and senior forward Daniel Howe teamed with Crane to account for 34 first-half points, with Holmes scoring six points in the final 3 minutes of the second quarter as Houlton scored the final 12 points before intermission to surge to a 38-16 lead.
“The first time we played them our supporting guys, we were just really timid,” Holmes said. “I didn’t look to shoot much. I wasn’t aggressive. But tonight we ran a lot of plays and tried to get the ball down low, and with them having the one guy on the bottom we could dump it to the weak side and get a lot of layups.”
The Shiretowners built that lead, despite limited direct offense from Bouchard. He scored just four points in the half and took just two field-goal attempts, a 70-foot heave at the end of the first quarter and a follow-up shot after he grabbed an offensive rebound in the second period.
“It’s obviously frustrating having guys in your face trying not to let you have the ball all game long,” Bouchard said. “Teams’ game plan a lot of times is to be real physical with me, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of being patient and trying to battle through it.”
The rest of the Shiretowners capitalized on all the attention being paid to Bouchard, as Houlton shot 56 percent (14 of 25) from the field during the opening half.
“Eighty percent of it is mental,” Drew said. “We did a good job of preparing for this game, attacking the rim and passing, and that’s what we did in the game tonight.”
Houlton extended its lead to as much as 26 points early in the third quarter, but Lee (6-5) found its perimeter shooting touch and hassled Houlton with full-court defensive pressure.
Guards Kyler Peters, Charles Tung-Fang and Howie Lin combined for 18 points in the period, mostly on mid-range jumpers, while Houlton made just 4 of 13 free-throw tries as Lee drew within 50-37 entering the fourth quarter.
Tung-Fang opened the final period with a 3-pointer from the key to narrow the Lee deficit to 10 points, and the Pandas hung within 11 two minutes into the quarter after a deep 3-pointer by Lin, but Houlton was able to prevent any further inroads into its cushion as Holmes scored off a pass from Drew and the Shiretowners made 9 of their final 12 free-throw attempts, with Drew making 5 of 6.
Peters led Lee with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Tung-Fang scored 10 points and Lin added nine.
