Sports Reporter
Presque Isle makes the trip 13 miles north to Caribou in an early-season battle between the rivals. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at CHS.
Both coaches, Chris Casavant of Caribou and Tim Prescott of Presque Isle, expect a tough battle.
“We’ll need to limit their dribble penetration,” Casavant said. “We’ll have to defend really well to have a chance at winning.”
Casavant said the 2-2 Vikes, who he feels match up well size-wise with PI, will have to handle any traps the Wildcat might apply and also need to avoid rushing shots during possessions. That was a problem during the team’s weekend trip which resulted in losses to both Old Town and Mattanawcook.
Prescott knows Caribou is very capable of handing his team a defeat, and to avoid that he feels his team must keep the ball out of the hands of Viking senior guard Cameron Anderson and be aware of where sharp-shooter Matt Till is on the floor at all times.
Despite the 3-0 start, the Wildcat coach said his team must do a better job executing its offense. “We’re really not making any open jump shots,” he said, “so that definitely has to improve.”
GHCA 59, Ashland 55 – At the University of Maine at Presque Isle Monday, Jaron Gray, Micah Wiley and Zach Straubel combined for 40 points and were all in double figures in scoring as GHCA held off a pesky Hornet team.
Lucas Hafford had 20 points, while Kenny Tarr led a fourth-quarter charge by tallying 10 of his 19 points in the final period. Jordan Boulier added 12 points for Ashland, which fell to 2-2.
Easton 90, East Grand 36 – At Danforth Saturday, Reid Clark led a group of four players in double-digits in scoring with 18 points as the Bears won big. Luke Budreau (16), Jared Hafford (14) and Corey White (11) were the other top scorers as Easton had a total of 11 players score at least two points in the game. The Bears led 26-6 at the end of the first quarter, 44-14 at half and 68-22 after three periods.
Presque Isle 45, Old Town 41 – At Old Town Saturday, Presque Isle trailed by 10 points in the first half, but came back behind the shooting of Keenan Eaton, who came off the bench and buried a pair of three-pointers. Eaton finished with 10 points. Nate Ackerson was PI’s high scorer with 11.
Travis Dyer, the leading scorer in his team’s first two games of the season, missed the contest due to illness.
“We’ve come out slow in all three of our games and have been ice cold from the floor,” said PI coach Tim Prescott. “We are a very good defensive team, but we are not a good shooting team at this point.”
Presque Isle 41, Mattanawcook 40 – Ethan Braley’s free throw with five seconds to go provided the winning margin as the Wildcats won in Lincoln Friday.
Mattanawcook had jumped out to a 14-2 lead after one quarter, but PI rallied behind Keenan Eaton’s eight second-quarter points and trailed by just three at halftime.
Dyer scored 19 points and Eaton finished with 11 for the Wildcats, who are now 3-0 entering tonight’s game at Caribou. The Wildcats were without the services of Ackerson, who was out with the flu.
Fort Fairfield 44, Madawaska 41 – At Madawaska Thursday, the Tigers battled back from an eight-point deficit after three quarters to stun the Owls.
Travis Noyes scored 19 points, seven which came in the final period, and Josh Churchill netted 11 more for the 2-0 Tigers.
Ashland 52, Van Buren 31 – Tarr and Hafford had 12 and 10 points, respectively, with Tarr also dishing out 12 assists in the Hornets’ home win Thursday. Freshman Tyler Levesque scored seven points to go along with 14 rebounds for the winners.
Erik LaPlante scored 11 to lead the Crusaders.
Katahdin 72, Ashland 44 – At Stacyville last Tuesday, the Cougars outscored the Hornets over the second and third quarters by a 40-17 margin to collect the easy win.
Brandon Robinson had 18 for Katahdin, while Tarr netted 19 points and Hafford 11 for Ashland.
Fort Fairfield 59, Van Buren 42 – At Van Buren last Tuesday, Josh Churchill scored a team-best 15 points, while John McNamee tallied 11 and combined with Travis Noyes for 20 rebounds as the Tigers won their opener. Derek Rossignol netted 17 for the Crusaders.
Staff photo/Kevin Sjoberg
ASSIST — Ashland’s Lucas Hafford scored 20 points, but on this play he bounces a pass to an open teammate for an assist in Monday’ game against GHCA. Chad Duff defends the play. The Hornets fell in a close game played at the UMPI gym, 59-55.
