CARIBOU, Maine — Trailing 10-0 on the road less than three minutes into the game, Presque Isle coach Terry Cummings decided to burn his first time-out.
The Wildcats regrouped and outscored the Vikings by 23 points the rest of the way to capture Wednesday’s rivalry game at Caribou High School, 66-53.
“In my entire coaching career, I don’t think I’ve ever waited that long to call a time-out,” Cummings said. “With these guys, I felt confident that we would come back because we’ve proven that we can. It was a great moment for them to grow and they did.”
After that stoppage, the ’Cats scored the game’s next six points and later 3-pointers by Jason Dumais (2) and reserve forward Adam Paterson cut the deficit to 17-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The Vikes still led 21-19 before their leading scorer, Parker Deprey, picked up his third personal foul with 4:33 to go and was relegated to the bench until the start of the third quarter.
The score was knotted at 29 at the half but the Wildcats scored 12 of the first 15 points of the third to take control. Senior guard Griffin Guerrette, who finished with 29 points, scored seven points during the run, with Caleb Wheaton contributing a 3-pointer and Dumais a putback. Caribou never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
The Wildcats went just 6 for 12 from the foul line in the first half, but improved to 8 for 10 in the second half, all of them coming in the final three minutes.
Jonah Hudson of the Wildcats gets a shot off against Caribou defenders Mason Patten (40) and Nick Allen during last Wednesday’s game at Caribou High School. (Contributed photo/Terry Sandusky)
In addition to Guerrette’s 29 points, which was just over his season average of 28.2, Dumais scored 13 (11 in the first half) and Jonah Hudson finished with nine. Presque Isle has now won seven of its last eight games and is 7-2 overall.
Caribou started strong, grabbing the early lead thanks to two field goals by Nick Allen, one by Parker Deprey and a conventional 3-point play and a free throw by Austin Findlen. But Caribou’s early foul trouble and a defensive switch by the Wildcats from man-to-man to zone put the momentum in favor of the visitors.
“We started out in man and that wasn’t really working, so we changed to a 1-3-1 zone and extended it a bit, and then to a 3-2 in the third quarter, which allowed us to get out on their shooters and that was one of the big keys to the game,” Cummings said.
Allen finished with 21 points, while Deprey and Findlen netted 13 each for the Vikings, who were nearly perfect shooting free throws, going 13 for 14 in the game. They have now lost five of their last six and fell to 4-7 overall.
The teams meet again in Presque Isle Feb. 8, the final regular season game for both.
