Fort boys win

    BANGOR, Maine — Stout defense helped No. 3 Fort Fairfield advance in the Eastern Maine Class D boys basketball tournament with its quarterfinal victory Monday afternoon.
Robbie Watson scored 21 points as Fort Fairfield defeated No. 6 Schenck of East Millinocket 55-39.
The 16-4 Tigers play second-ranked Southern Aroostook in Thursday’s semifinal contest. The Warriors swept FF in the two regular season meetings.
Fort Fairfield applied a diamond-and-one defense to limit Schenck sophomore standout Justin Thompson to just four points before he fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
Senior Johnny Theriault drew the primary defensive assignment, with sophomore Chris Giberson handling those man-to-man duties when Theriault was out of the game.
“We’ve been working on it hard in practice every day, the kids bought into it real well, and it showed today,” said first-year Fort Fairfield coach Logan McLaughlin. “Theriault did an excellent job on Thompson, Giberson did an excellent job on him, and with the guys in the diamond, their movement and rotations were perfect.”
Watson scored 17 of his points during the final two quarters while helping the Tigers steadily extend a 23-18 halftime lead. The 6-foot-1 senior also grabbed eight rebounds.
Senior forward Hunter Beaulieu added 11 points — eight in the first half — and 11 rebounds, and classmate Caleb Daigle contributed seven points, seven rebounds and four assists.
“Some games we’ll get out and run a lot more, and other games we’ll end up slowing it down if we get a little lead,” said McLaughlin. “Normally we like to get out and run a little bit, but at the same time, we’ve got Hunter Beaulieu inside who can frustrate teams at times, and we got him a lot of looks early in the game.”
Ryan Leavitt led 15-5 Schenck with 11 points and six rebounds, Chris King scored nine points and Zack Smith had eight points and six rebounds.