The Fort Fairfield and Easton boys’ basketball teams each won their season-opening games played Friday and square off tonight in Easton beginning at 7 p.m. The Tigers defeated GHCA and the Bears got past Ashland. This matchup features Bears’ first-year coach Cody Closson taking on the team he played for between 2004 and 2008.
In other action, Madawaska travels south to Washburn. The girls’ game is at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ game is at 7 p.m. Katahdin makes the trek to Danforth to take on East Grand. The girls play at 5 p.m. followed by the boys at 6:30 p.m. The GHCA boys head to Southern Aroostook, 6 p.m.
Summaries of season-opening games played Friday and Saturday are as follows:
Boys basketball
Washington Academy 63, Presque Isle 62 – At East Machias Saturday, Donald Soctomah’s basket with five seconds left capped a furious fourth-quarter comeback from a 14-point deficit to give Washington Academy the win. Presque Isle missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Griffin Guerrette (Courtesy/PIHS)
The Wildcats stormed out to a 15-point first quarter lead behind Griffin Guerrette’s 11 points. He totalled 31, while Jonah Hudson and Jason Dumais netted nine each and Trace Cyr tossed in eight.
Tihomir Babic led the way for WA with 22 points and 17 rebounds and Jim Lin had 12 points, 10 of which came during the fourth-quarter comeback.
Hermon 69, Caribou 38 – Isaac Varney and Jordan Bishop had 12 points apiece, Keenan Marseille contributed nine and Jacob Godfrey eight to lead Hermon past Caribou Saturday in Hermon.
Parker Deprey’s 12 points and Nick Allen’s nine paced Caribou. Austin Findlen added eight more in the loss.
Fort Fairfield 66, GHCA 43 – At Fort Fairfield Friday, Alex Sprague registered a game-high 21 points and Isaac Cyr chipped in with 16 to guide the Tigers past the Eagles.
GHCA was led by Isaac Potter’s 14 points. Parker Brewer (12 points) and Cole Winslow (10) were also in double figures.
Van Buren 53, Washburn 46 – Luc Perreault poured in a game-high 33 points as the Crusaders won on the road Friday. Brandon Sytulek added 15 points for the winners.
The Beavers were led by Patrick Saucier, who scored 15 points, and Konner Jordan, who tallied 10.
Southern Aroostook 49, East Grand 25 — At Dyer Brook Friday, Garrett Siltz scored a game-high 20 points and Xavier Morales and Hunter Burpee teamed up for 13 more to lead Southern Aroostook past East Grand of Danforth.
Matthew Porter’s eight points and Lendin Stoddard’s seven led East Grand.
Easton boys 56, Ashland 32 – Collin Sotomayor had a big game with 12 points, six assists, six steals and four rebounds, while Isaac Currier posted nine points, four rebounds and two steals as the Bears won in Closson’s varsity coaching debut.
Ashland started well, scoring the game’s first six points and bolting to a 13-8 lead, but Easton controlled the rest of the game. Dylan Haley scored 11 points and Baily Clark nine for the Hornets.
Girls basketball
Presque Isle 90, Washington Academy 15 – At East Machias Saturday, Maggie Castonguay’s 20 points and Emily Wheaton’s 15 powered Presque Isle to the victory. Kasey Haley added 12 points to the winning total.
Maggie Castonguay (Courtesy/WDHS)
Riley Fraser led the Raiders with four points.
Hermon 56, Caribou 41 – Alex Allain’s 13 points and Cait Tracy’s 11 helped power Hermon to a home win over the Vikings Saturday. Lauren Plissey chipped in with nine points for the winners.
Searra Herbert’s game-high 18 points sparked Caribou and Gabrielle Marquis added nine.
Fort Fairfield 47, Katahdin 35 – At Fort Fairfield Saturday, the Tigers had nine players who scored, led by Cammi King-Demerchant’s 11 points and 11 rebounds, as they defeated the Cougars.
Freshman Brenna LeVasseur had nine points and classmate Kourtney West added six points and nine rebounds. Hunter St. Pierre grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds.
“Katahdin is a tough team with everyone but one player back from last year and they were so much taller and stronger than we were,” said Tiger coach Larry Gardner, “We focused all this week in practice in boxing out, which paid off.”
The Tigers held a 49-31 advantage in the rebounding department.
Katahdin was led by freshman Dee Libby with eight points, while senior Hannah Drew had seven.
Ashland 52, Easton 38 – Megan Cote scored a career-high 20 points and hauled in 13 rebounds as the Hornets downed the Bears Friday in Easton.
Amber Chasse added 13 points and Morgan Doughty scored seven for the Hornets, who pulled away in the third quarter.
“It was a good opening-season win for us in a tough place to play,” said Ashland coach Ben Lothrop. “Megan had a career night for us, going in on both the left and right sides of the basket and we had lots of different players contribute in various ways, so it was a true team win.”
Easton was led by Isabelle Morin with 15 points, 11 of which came in the first half.
Megan Cote (Courtesy of Michelle Fournier)
Washburn 47, Van Buren 26 – At Washburn, Kassie Farley scored 24 points and registered 11 rebounds to lead the Beavers to the victory over the Crusaders at home Friday.
Raegyn Chavez added nine points and Trinity Saucier-Pellicer 11 rebounds for the Beavers.
Leah Gendreau led the Crusaders with nine and Tiffany Morrow had seven.
Southern Aroostook 82, East Grand 16 — At Dyer Brook Friday, six players scored in double figures for the Warriors as SA rolled to the lopsided victory. The Warriors jumped to a 29-5 first quarter lead and never looked back.
Kassidy Mathers and Sydney Brewer led all scorers with 13 points each. Makaelyn Porter chipped in 12, while Paige Vose had 11 and Kyle Vining and Kacy Daggett each had 10.
East Grand was led by Haleigh Shay and Jordyn Cowger with five points each.
Hodgdon 29, Shead 28 — At Eastport Friday, the Hawks rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to score a season-opening victory over Shead. The Hawks trailed 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, and were down 17-9 at halftime. Hodgdon slowly chipped away at the lead and trailed just 24-20 after three quarters.
Janelle Goff spearheaded Hodgdon’s second-half effort and finished with 12 points, while Sydney Howell and Kylie Moores scored four points each.
Cassidy Wilder scored a game-high 14 points for Shead, while Madison Greenlaw added seven.
