EASTON, Maine – The Easton boys’ varsity basketball team knew going into Saturday’s game against Southern Aroostook that the Warriors were capable of knocking off tough opponents, but the Bears also knew, if they could shut down the middle and outrun their opponents they could get the win.
“Our big key was to shut down number 33 [Colby Clark],” said sophomore forward Sean Daniels. “We knew they’d beaten Washburn, which is a very tough team, but we came out ready to play.”
The Bears went with a 1-3-1 zone putting center Jeremy Brock in the post area to battle Clark and three men in front of him to stop penetration in the 56-41 win and held Clark to eight of 26 attempts.
Meanwhile Easton got their own post game going with Brock dominating offensively and Daniels pulling down rebounds.
“We knew we’re a little bit faster, but that doesn’t make up for their size,” Daniels said. “They have good size and good shooters so we wanted to press today … We weren’t getting steals but we were getting deflections and layups like we wanted so we did pretty much what we wanted to.”
Southern Aroostook pulled within three points in the third quarter but the Bears went back to their defensive scheme, drawing fouls offensively and defensively. The Warriors got into foul trouble in the final quarter with Clark picking up his fourth foul early and starters Stephen Grant, Logan Edwards and Robert Toothaker fouling out in the final two minutes.
“Pretty much all we were doing was going straight up,” Daniels said. “It’s a 50-50 chance of being an offensive or defensive foul and you just hope that it goes your way and keep playing to the end of the game.”
The Bears held Southern Aroostook to 29 percent shooting from the floor and out-rebounded their opponents 27-22.
Brock led Easton with 25 points followed by Daniels with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Easton improves to 5-2 on the season and 11th in Eastern Maine Class D boys’ basketball.
The Warriors were led by Clark with 20 points and Dakota Sleeper with nine.
Easton gets a test this week as they travel to unbeaten Central Aroostook Wednesday for the second game of a boy/girl double header at 7 p.m. The Bears also get the second game of a boy/girl double header Friday as they host East Grand at 6:30 p.m.
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