Bears pound SA Warriors
Retain top spot in ‘D’ North
EASTON, Maine — In their first meeting Dec. 8, 2015 the Easton Bears surrendered a season-high 66 points in a loss at Southern Aroostook. At home on Thursday, it was a much different story.
The Bears tightened their stranglehold on the No. 1 position in the Class D North standings by stifling the Warrior offense en route to a 66-45 victory.
Easton (8-2) employed a triangle-and-two defense in an effort to slow down SA’s dynamic duo of Jackson Mathers and Nolan Altvater. With Drew Sotomayor drawing the defensive assignment on Mathers throughout the game and Hunter Brown guarding Altvater, the plan worked to near perfection.
Mathers was scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field, while Altvater had just three field goals until he netted two more in the final minute after the game was decided.
“We just had to have intensity [against Mathers and Altvater] and get help defense from the other three guys,” said Sotomayor, a senior captain. “Coach wanted some size on Mathers so it was harder for him [to get shots off] and Hunter is pesky and is always on the opponent’s main guy and he wanted him down low on Altvater.”
First-year Easton coach Manny Martinez was pleased with the defensive effort and said it showed marked improvement as compared to a month ago in Dyer Brook.
“We did a decent job not letting them get in a rhythm,” Martinez said. “We were without our big man [6-3 junior Jordan Doody] in the first meeting and played them straight man, so we made some adjustments and also rebounded a lot better tonight.”
Easton has not allowed more than 48 points in a game since that season-opening loss and through the first 10 games are surrendering an average of just 36.8 ppg.
The Bears went on an early 20-6 run that stretched into the early stages of the second quarter. Sotomayor had seven points during the run, but Logan Halvorson, Doody and Jake Flewelling also pitched in with two field goals apiece as the hosts took control.
An Altvater offensive rebound and putback with 5:05 left in the first half cut the margin to 27-21, but Easton tallied 10 unanswered points before intermission to grab its largest lead of 16 points.
Southern Aroostook (6-3) extended its 2-3 zone to begin the second half to force some Easton miscues and make a run, but never got closer than 11 the remainder of the game.
The Bears hit 10 consecutive free throws at one point in the fourth quarter and mixed in a pair of threes by the sharp-shooting Halvorson to stretch things out.
With Mathers and Altvater covered well, the Warrior offense was out of sorts and committed 19 turnovers, compared to just 10 by Easton.
Halvorson finished with a game-high 21 points, while Flewelling had 14, Sotomayor 12, Doody 11 and Brown eight to complete the balanced effort.
“That really opens up the floor when everyone is chipping in and makes them all a threat,” Martinez said.
Altvater notched 12 points to lead SA and Tyler Batchelder added 10, all of them coming in the first half. The Warriors made just 18 of their 56 shots (32 percent), while Easton was 17 for 33 (52 percent) in the first half and finished 25 for 56 (45 percent).
Sotomayor said he and his Bears cannot rest with almost half the regular season left and the playoffs still a month away.
“We knew we were going to be contenders but we have had to work hard to improve,” Sotomayor said. “We have had intense practices and individually we are pushing each other. We have to take the next step and just go game-by-game.”
