PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – It may only have been four weeks into the season but the first matchup between the Presque Isle and Caribou boys’ varsity basketball teams Thursday night felt like a playoff game. Packed to the hilt, the Presque Isle gymnasium featured noise levels rivaling the Bangor Auditorium.
The Wildcats grabbed two four-point leads in the early going behind a tough half-court, man-to-man defense but couldn’t find an answer to junior guard Kyle Corrigan, whose 22 points paced the Vikings to a 43-36 win.
Caribou’s defense focused on the inside threats of Adam Kingsbury and Luke Ireland, doubling up in the post to force the Wildcats to kick it back outside, but the Wildcats had a fair amount of success in their distance shooting.
Presque Isle picked up 15 points from the perimeter, stretching out the Caribou defense. It appeared that Presque Isle would catch a break early in the fourth when Caribou forward Jeremiah Fitzherbert picked up his fourth foul, but Ben Rosser stepped up, getting two blocks on two consecutive shots to keep the middle plugged.
The Wildcats also kept post play to a minimum and spread scoring around to seven different players, but the Vikings held Presque Isle to five points in the second quarter and eight in the fourth to pick up the win.
Logan York and Gabe Cheney led the Wildcats with nine points each while Kingsbury and Russ Mortland added six and five respectively. Presque Isle went 5-of-11 from the three-point arc with shots coming from York with two and Cheney, Mortland and Nathan Ackerson with one each.
Presque Isle suffered a tough 34-33 loss at the hands of John Bapst on Saturday.
In a tie game, a stolen ball by the Crusaders forced Presque Isle to foul with eight seconds left in regulation. Kyle Gallant hit one of his two free throws to give the Crusaders the final margin. Burke and Ethan Cushman led John Bapst with nine points each while Cheney led the Wildcats with 15 points.
The Wildcats fall to 4-4 on the season and into 10th place in the Eastern Maine Class B boys’ basketball standings.
Presque Isle hosts a pair of games against tough coastal teams this weekend with Ellsworth coming in at 7 p.m. Friday and MDI taking on the Wildcats at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
