Presque Isle girls in blowout win, Wildcat boys pull away in fourth
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
CARIBOU — What’s a better way to wrap up the regular season than with games against your arch rival?
The Caribou and Presque Isle basketball teams met for the second time this season, this time on the Vikings’ home floor, but the result of both games proved to be same as the prior meetings a month earlier in Presque Isle.
Contributed photo/jmavorphotography.com
Jamie Martin of the Caribou Vikings tries to turn the corner against Presque Isle’s Karlee Bernier during Thursday’s game.
The Wildcats pulled off another sweep, with the boys coming out on top Friday, 56-45, after the girls claimed an 83-30 victory a night earlier.
In Friday’s matchup, played before a large and loud crowd, the Wildcats took the lead on a long three-pointer by Travis Dyer seconds into the game. PI stayed in front throughout the first half and into the third quarter, but the Vikings hung around and even took a 36-35 lead before the ’Cats ended the third period on a 9-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by junior guard Wilder York as time ran out.
Presque Isle remained in front during the final eight minutes to improve to 17-1 on the season.
“It definitely had the feel of an old-fashioned Presque Isle-Caribou game,” said Wildcat coach Tim Prescott. “It was a great atmosphere, and although I didn’t think we played our best basketball, our guys responded well in a pressure-packed game.”
Oliver Zubrick, PI’s 6-5 senior, proved to be the difference as he ended up 6 for 6 from the floor and 8 for 10 from the foul line to finish with a game-high 20 points.
“Oliver really killed us,” said Caribou coach Chris Casavant. “I thought he was sensational and we really respect what he does on the floor.”
Zubrick has turned out his best performances this season against the Vikings. In their Jan. 12 meet at Presque Isle, Zubrick was similarly dominant by scoring another 20 points.
Contributed photo/jmavorphotography.com
The Vikings’ Chad Caverhill gets off a layup while being guarded by Presque Isle’s Wilder York Friday at CHS.
He did have some help Friday, as Dyer canned another three-pointer from well beyond the arc later in the game and ended up with 11 points. Alex Tuttle and Andrew Legassie tossed in eight points each.
Prescott credited Caribou with giving his team all it wanted for most of the contest.
“They had a stretch of some good minutes and were really hurting us with dribble penetration in the first half,” said Prescott, who made some defensive adjustments by having Legassie guard Caribou’s Matt Till and holding him down for most of the second half.
Despite the loss, Casavant was pleased with his team’s effort and said it served as a good “bounce-back” after the upset loss at Houlton earlier in the week.
“We fought back to take the lead against the team that along with Ellsworth was the best we faced all year,” he said. “I thought it was a great crowd and our guys drew a lot of energy from it. It was electric in our gym and we thrived on that and it got us back in the game, we just chipped away and chipped away and it got louder and louder.”
He said he hopes the fans will again turn out and support the team in Wednesday’s prelim game against Hermon.
Stephen St. Peter scored 12 points, while Roland Thibodeau and Till had 10 each to lead Caribou offensively.
On Thursday, with nothing to gain with a victory when considering the Heal Point standings for Eastern Maine Class B, Viking coach Ryan Deprey decided to treat the game like an exhibition. All 14 players on the Caribou roster saw action in both halves.
Both teams were locked in their seedings for the upcoming tourney – Presque Isle at No. 1 and Caribou at No. 6. While Presque Isle still played the game to win, Deprey defended his tactics.
“We had three starters fighting illness, so risking their health or one of them getting hurt in a meaningless game didn’t make sense to me, knowing the big picture is us going to the tournament and playing Medomak Valley on Friday,” said the first-year Viking coach. “Also, the game was televised statewide and I didn’t want Medomak to get a read on our strategies, and the next time we play PI would be in the EM final [if both teams win their first two tournament games], so we didn’t want to show them anything that would help them prepare for a game that matters.
“Sometimes,” he added, “you have to play chess instead of checkers.”
Caribou scored the game’s first basket, but PI answered with a 10-0 run thanks to effective full-court pressure that forced numerous turnovers. Meanwhile, Viking starters Jenna Selander and Alexa Massey each picked up two fouls in the first period and sat out the rest of the half, leading to Deprey going deep into his bench early on.
The Wildcats took advantage and put 28 points on the board in the second quarter and led by 30 points (47-17) at intermission.
“Even though Caribou did not give us their best, I thought we played with a lot of energy and fire,” said PI coach Jeff Hudson. “We took the ball to the basket hard and got them in a lot of foul trouble early.”
Kayla Richards hit 12 foul shots and finished with a game-high 20 points for the winners, while Chandler Guerrette scored 14 and Chelsea Nickerson 10 for PI. Eight other players scored for PI as Hudson went to his bench freely in the second half.
Rebecca McDougal came off the bench to lead Caribou’s offense with 11 points.
