BANGOR, MAINE — The playoff road came to an end for the senior-laden Southern Aroostook boys basketball team Saturday as the No. 1 Warriors fell 43-31 to No. 2 Machias 43-31 in the Class D north championship.
Machias improves to 20-1 while Southern Aroostook ends its season with a 19-2 record.
Led by the size of Jacob Godfrey, James Mersereau and Mark Anthony, the Bulldogs forced the Warriors into contested jump shots and Southern Aroostook finished the afternoon shooting just 13-for-54 (24 percent) from the floor.
Taking the ball inside is SACS’ Nolan Altvater, right, during Saturday’s Class D North championship. The Warriors fell 43-31. (Staff photo | Joesph Cyr)
Warriors senior center Nolan Altvater went 9-for-26 from the field and finished with 18 points, as Machias’ Camon Johnson harassed Altvater early and often. Altvater grabbed 10 rebounds and Jayden Burpee made three steals for the Warriors.
“Things just didn’t go our way today,” Altvater said. “We put in a good first half, but came out flat in the second half. Jackson and I got into foul trouble and that really hurt us. We just couldn’t buy a basket.”
“If you had told me we would score under 50 points, I wouldn’t have believed you,” SACS coach Bill McAvoy said. “We just couldn’t get it going today.”
The Bulldogs also contained Jackson Mathers, who scored six points on 2-for-12 shooting.
“We knew we had to shut down Mathers, that was the key,” said Mersereau.
“Doubling Jack (Mathers) changed things,” coach McAvoy said. “I think it kept Nolan from going to the basket more, like he normally does. I thought if we could just stay with them until the fourth quarter, we could then take over.”
That scenario nearly played out, except that both Altvater and Mathers had four fouls by that point and had to play more conservatively.
Machias was able to break open what had been a 24-22 game early in the third quarter with an impressive 18-0 run stretching from the 2:01 mark of the third to the 3:38 mark of the fourth.
The Warriors were held without a field goal for more than nine minutes, as the Bulldogs used their combination of size and athleticism to wear down Southern Aroostook with quick dribble-penetration.
Warrior Robert Lillis tries to chase down a loose ball during Saturday’s Class D North championship game as teammates Nolan Altvater, left, and Luis Morales look on. (Staff photo | Joesph Cyr)Baas
“They shoot better when they’re in transition so we had to kind of slow the pace and make it a half-court game,” said Getchell.
That happened once the Bulldogs were able to get a double-digit lead.
“We came out and we pushed it to a point where we had that lead, slowed them up, go to me in the post and finish strong from the line,” Mersereau said.
Machias shot 11-for-14 from the foul line in the second half to dim all hopes of a Warrior comeback.
Along with Mersereau, Jacob Godfrey (seven rebounds) and John Massar (nine points, seven rebounds), the Bulldogs’ big men did a great job of controlling the backboards and the smaller Warriors found themselves in foul trouble as the game wore on.
“We wanted to use our size and dominate the glass,” said Getchell.
Houlton Pioneer Times reporter Joseph Cyr contributed to this article.
Southern Aroostook’s Luis Morales, right, leaps into the air to rebound the ball while defended by Machias’ Jacob Godfrey. (Staff photo | Joesph Cyr)
