Only one regular season game remains for most boys’ basketball squads, as the playoffs start next week.
Three of the five squads in the Houlton Pioneer Times coverage area appear to be headed to the postseason this year as Southern Aroostook, Hodgdon and East Grand/Greater Houlton Christian Academy are all in the mix in their respective regions.
The final day for regular season games is Friday, with preliminary playoffs slated to begin Feb. 9-10, 2016. Teams then shift to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor for the quarterfinal round starting Feb. 12.
In the Class D North region, Southern Aroostook (14-3, 102.9630) is in second, behind top-ranked Easton (15-2, 118.0247). The Warriors have punched their ticket directly to Bangor for the quarterfinals. SACS closes out the regular season with a big game at home Thursday against Fort Fairfield (13-4, and ranked second in the Class C North region).
If the Warriors stay in the No. 2 seed, they would play Monday, Feb. 15 at 11:05 a.m. in Bangor against the winner of the Feb. 10 No. 7-No. 10 prelim. Those teams are currently Shead (10-6) and East Grand/Greater Houlton Christian Academy (4-13, 15.0617).
Katahdin (3-15, 4.3210) is 12th in the region and not in the playoff picture.
In Class C North, Hodgdon (9-8, 68.7654) is sixth, and if the current rankings hold, will host a preliminary playoff game Feb. 10 against the No. 11 seed, currently Piscataquis Community High School (7-10, 36.5432). The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
In Class B North, Houlton (2-15, 13.9506) is 15th and not in the playoff picture this year.
The following is a recap of games played through Monday.
Katahdin 52, Fort Fairfield 85 — At Fort Fairfield Monday, Katahdin was unable to keep pace with the Tigers in the second half. Monday’s game was the final regular season contest for Katahdin.
Tigers used a balanced-scoring effort behind Chris Giberson’s 20 points to pull away for the win. Isaac Cyr added 15 points, Josh Ricker chipped in with 12, while Dalton Cassidy and Jared Harvey added nine apiece.
Katahdin was led by Tyson Porter with 20 points, while Hunter Craig added eight and Brody Guiggey chipped in seven.
Fort Fairfield led 19-12, 36-28 and 66-34 at the quarter breaks.
Houlton 52, Presque Isle 45 — At Presque Isle Monday, the Shiretowners rallied from a six-point deficit at the end of the third quarter to record the win over the Wildcats.
Cameron Graham paced Houlton with 19 points and Jacob Brown added 18 on six 3-point field goals. Garrett Ring added nine in the win.
For Presque Isle, Griffin Guerrette scored 16 points and Connor Murchison chipped in with 12.
Houlton led 15-13 in the first quarter and 26-24 at halftime, before Presque Isle went up 37-31 after three quarters.
Hermon 47, Houlton 46 — At Houlton Saturday, Keenan Marseille led all scorers with 18 points as the Hawks nipped the Shiretowners for the win.
Tyler Beaton and Isaiah Marseille chipped in 10 and nine points, respectively, for 8-8 Hermon.
Brown paced Houlton with 15 points, while Graham added 10 and Ring had nine.
Hermon led 18-9, 32-19 and 40-34 at the quarter breaks before Houlton mounted a furious, fourth-quarter surge, falling just short of the win.
Ashland 39, So. Aroostook 78 — At Dyer Brook Saturday, the host-Warriors doubled up Ashland with a 39-point win. Individual results were not reported.
Greenville 54, Katahdin 35 — At Stacyville Friday, visiting Greenville outscored the Cougars 16-5 in the fourth quarter to come away with the win. Nick Foley was on fire as he scored 30 of his 35 points on 3-pointers to lead the Lakers. Tim White added nine for Greenville.
Devin McGraw led Katahdin with 12 points and Porter chipped in nine for Katahdin.
The Cougars led 12-9 in the first quarter, but Greenville rallied to take a 26-20 halftime lead and was up 38-30 after three quarters.
East Grand/GHCA 56, Wisdom 69 — At St. Agatha Friday, Jack Guerrette poured in a game-high 33 points to propel Wisdom past the EG/GHCA Vikings. Chance Gervais contributed 16 points.
Isaac Potter led the Vikings with 16 points and Jed Grant added 11.
The Vikings led 10-9 in the first quarter, but Wisdom went up 27-18 at the half and led 47-34 after three quarters.
Woodland 66, East Grand/GHCA 38 — At Danforth Jan. 27, visiting Woodland rolled to the 28-point victory. Individual results were not reported.
So. Aroostook 82, Katahdin 27 — At Stacyville Jan. 26, in a battle of RSU 50 squads, it was the Warriors of Southern Aroostook who put on a scoring clinic. Jackson Mathers led four players in double-digits with a game-high 23 points, including five 3-pointers, to spark Southern Aroostook.
Tyler Batchelder contributed 19 points while Nolan Altvater added 16 and Jayden Burpee chipped in 10.
Guiggey led Katahdin with 10 points, while Porter added six.
SACS led 25-10, 57-17 and 65-23 at the quarter breaks.
Houlton 39, Caribou 51 — At Caribou Jan. 26, the host Vikings scored 12 unanswered points midway through the second half to break open a one-point game en route to the win. Donovan Savage led the way with 18 points.
Andre Rossignol contributed 12 points for Caribou and Nick Allen added 10.
For Houlton, Nick Perfitt, Jared Fox and Brown each tallied eight points.
Caribou led 12-10, 22-2- and 36-27 at the quarter breaks.
Fort Fairfield 43, Hodgdon 45 — At Hodgdon Jan. 26, the Hawks took a five-point lead into the half and then held off the Tigers for the win.
Hawk Daden Palmer hit a 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds remaining in the game to put the Hawks up two. Fort Fairfield got a look at a three but did the shot was off the mark.
Palmer finished with a game-high 18 points and Jimmy Buzzell added 14. For Fort Fairfield, Ryan Player led the way with 15 points and Cyr added 11.
Hodgdon led 14-10, 29-24 and 37-33 at the quarter breaks.
