By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The Central Aroostook Panthers are one win away from completing another perfect season. The team needed a big comeback Monday, but moved to 17-0 with the win over Washburn. The Panthers take on Katahdin in Stacyville in Thursday’s regular season finale.
Contributed photo/jmavorphotography.com
Matt Till goes up high for a layup in Caribou’s 51-45 victory over John Bapst played Saturday afternoon at CHS. Caribou hopes to finish strong in Friday’s regular season finale against Presque Isle.
CA is still in first place in the Eastern Maine Class D standings and that seed should hold heading into the post-season. Washburn (15-2) is currently fourth, while Easton (11-5) is eighth. Those two teams meet in Easton Friday, while the Bears also play Southern Aroostook in Dyer Brook tonight in a game with serious playoff implications.
Fort Fairfield (10-7) holds the ninth position with one game remaining against Madawaska tonight. Both the Bears and the Tigers appear secure to stay in the top 10 and at worst make appearances in a preliminary-round playoff game, to be played next Wednesday.
Limestone-MSSM (0-16) is in 20th and need a victory in one of their remaining two games to avoid going winless on the year. In Class B, Presque Isle (15-1) is currently fifth and was scheduled to play at Fort Kent last night and will finish out its slate Friday in Caribou.
The Vikings (12-4) are in eighth place and have secured a spot in the preliminary round of the playoffs. They were scheduled to play Houlton last night prior to Friday’s showdown with the Wildcats. Victories in one or both games will probably lead to Caribou hosting a playoff game next Wednesday against either Hermon or Nokomis.
The final Heal Point standings will be released this weekend.
Summaries of games played through Monday, Feb. 7 are as follows:
Central Aroostook 57, Washburn 52 – The Panthers stayed undefeated by rallying in the second half at Washburn Monday.
Central Aroostook trailed by 16 points in the third quarter, but came all the way back to take the lead heading into the fourth. Both teams then exchanged leads a few times before the Panthers took control in the final minute.
Brendan York led the comeback by draining three three-pointers in the third period. He finished with 14 points in the game. Mike McClung scored 20 points, while Caleb Kelly tossed in 16 and defensively held Washburn’s high-scoring sophomore guard Mitchell Worcester to eight second-half points.
Worcester finished with 22 and Jordan McLaughlin added 11 for the Beavers.
Caribou 51, John Bapst 45 – The Vikings ran their home record to 7-1 after besting John Bapst of Bangor Saturday.
Matt Till had 16 points, while Stephen St. Peter tossed in 12 and Chad Caverhill and Roland Thibodeau 10 each for the Vikes, who trailed at the end of the first quarter before coming back for the victory.
Lucas Philippon had 14 points to lead the Crusaders.
Washburn 85, Southern Aroostook 63 – The host Beavers had its offense in gear Saturday behind the high-scoring duo of Worcester and McLaughlin.
The two combined to hit seven three-point baskets, with Worcester finishing with 33 points and McLaughlin totaling 26.
Washburn 85, Fort Fairfield 66 – Travis Noyes scored 19 points, including the 1,000th of his career, but his Tigers came up short against the Beavers Thursday in Washburn.
Noyes joins Jon Nichols and Shawn Manter as the only Fort Fairfield boys basketball players to hit the milestone. His three-pointer late in the fourth quarter allowed him to reach the mark. He also had 15 assists and six rebounds in the contest.
Worcester led the winners with 20 points, while Connor Fitzpatrick was also stellar for the Beavers as the senior hit for 17 points. Nick Bragg had a career-high 15 points and Jordan McLaughlin netted 14 for the winners.
Andrew Lewis also notched a career-high total with 25 points for Fort Fairfield, while also adding 14 rebounds. Dylan Caldwell added 12 points.
Caribou 49, Fort Kent 37 – Till scored a season-high 24 points Thursday in the Vikings’ home win over the Warriors.
Thibodeau added nine for Caribou.
Curtis Bouchard scored 20 points to lead Fort Kent’s offense.
Madawaska 87, Limestone-MSSM 44 – Matt Deschenes scored 30 points, while teammate Deejay Gendreau had a statistical ‘quadruple-double’ with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals as the Owls beat up on the Eagles Thursday.
Brandon Thompson had 10 points to paced the Eagles, who remained winless on the season.
Fort Fairfield 70, Hodgdon 45 – Noyes had 19 points and 10 assists last Tuesday as the host Tigers defeated the Hawks.
Teammate Jahleel Williams also had a solid outing with 12 points and seven assists, while Dereck Dufour scored 12 and Caldwell 10 to go along with eight boards.
