Battle at the top of Class D
highlights last week of regular season
There has been a shakeup at the top of the Eastern Maine Class D schoolboy basketball standings. Jonesport-Beals is in the top spot, followed closely by Central Aroostook and Washburn. Easton, as of Tuesday, is in eighth place. Both Fort Fairfield (13th) and LCS/MSSM (15th) are facing road prelim games.
In Class B, the Presque Isle Wildcats are ranked sixth and Caribou is currently in 11th place.
The regular season ends on Feb. 10.
Here’s a recap of games played through Monday, Feb. 6:
Ashland 59, Wisdom 43 — At Ashland Monday, the Hornets outscored the Pioneers 24-8 in the third quarter to take control during Senior Night.
Mark Chasse scored 16 points and Alex Chasse 13 to pace Ashland. Travis Chasse (the only Hornet senior) added nine points, seven rebounds and four steals, and Tyler Levesque had eight points and 12 rebounds.
Nathan Boynton led Wisdom with a game-high 20 points, and Chris Ouellette and Justin Pelletier had eight points apiece.
Presque Isle 71, John Bapst 45 — The Presque Isle Wildcats started strong at home Saturday against the John Bapst Crusaders, scoring the first 18 points of the game, and never looked back in picking up their 11th win of the season.
Andrew Kofstad had 3 three-3 pointers en route to a game-high 20 for Presque Isle. Matt Eager added 17 points and Tyler Brooks had 10.
The Wildcats regular season wraps up on Friday with a home game against Caribou. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
Washburn 94, Southern Aroostook 62 — The Washburn Beavers improved their record to 15-1 on Saturday with a road win against Southern Aroostook.
Jordan McLaughlin scored a game-high 34 points for Washburn; Mitch Worcester added 28 and Chase Chandler chipped in with 12.
Southern Aroostook (6-11) was led by Patrick Goodall’s 28 points.
Central Aroostook 56, Katahdin 39 — At Stacyville Saturday, Central Aroostook broke open a close game in the fourth quarter and shot 7 of 8 from the free-throw line down the stretch to secure the win.
Mike McClung led the 14-2 Panthers with 18 points. Dan Brewer contributed 16 points and Brenden York had 10 points for CAHS.
Katahdin (12-4) was led by Wyatt Morse with 13 points and Braden Cunningham who grabbed 18 rebounds.
Fort Fairfield 64, Wisdom 36 — At Fort Fairfield Friday, the Tigers picked up their fifth win of the season by downing the Wisdom Pioneers by 28 points.
Andrew Lewis powered Fort Fairfield with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Brandon Clark added 11 points for the Tigers.
Chris Ouellette had 12 points to lead Wisdom.
Fort Fairfield wraps up their regular season tonight with an away game in Madawaska.
Staff photo/Jon Gulliver
LEFT HAND —
Wildcat Matt Eager finds some blue sky to get a shot up against Houlton last Thursday. Eager had a big game with 22 points as Presque Isle won, 55-50.
Presque Isle 55, Houlton 50 — The Presque Isle Wildcats picked up a win over the young, but improving Houlton Shiretowners on Thursday night.
Presque Isle Cole Richards and Logan Good drew the task of trying to deny Houlton freshmen phenom Kyle Bouchard the ball and for most of the night the pair held him in check.
“I can not say enough about Cole and Logan,” said Wildcat coach Terry Cummings. “They give it their all and it rarely shows up in the stats, but it’s their defense that is helping us win games.”
Offensively senior Eager came up big.
“Eager had another huge game with 22 points and some key offensive rebounds that he converted for points,” said Cummings. “Jonah Stephenson came off the bench and gave us the spark we needed with 14 points, a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter and a four-four effort from the free throw line in the fourth. Kofstad only had 3 points, but it was his big three-pointer in the fourth that gave us a little breathing room.”
Presque Isle is now 10-5.
For 8-9 Houlton, Bouchard scored 17, Nick Guiod had nine, and Douglas Dickison added eight.
Staff photo/Jon Gulliver
FULL COURT PRESSURE 
— Presque Isle’s Jonah Stephenson picks up Houlton point guard Nick Guiod full court. Defense was the key to this game as the Wildcats won, 55-50.
Fort Kent 70, Caribou 56 — At Caribou Thursday, Curtis Bouchard led the Warriors with 22 points as they improved to 12-4.
Ryan Savery added 17 points for the winners and Tom Enerva had 16.
Caribou, 8-8, was led by Dayne Savage with 25 points and Cody Herbert with 14.
Katahdin 76, Ashland 44 — At Ashland Thursday, Colton Bivighouse connected for a game-high 22 points to carry the Cougars to victory.
Bill Livezey scored 14 points and Jesse McNally provided 11 more for Katahdin.
Tyler Levesque’s 14 points paced Ashland. Alex Chasse chipped in with 12 points.
Washburn 82, Fort Fairfield 43 — At Washburn Thursday, McLaughlin had a huge game with 42 points to power the Beavers past the Tigers.
Worcester tallied 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Washburn (14-1).
Andrew Lewis led the way for Fort Fairfield (4-12) with 18 points and 18 rebounds. Brandon Clark provided 10 points.
Easton 54, Wisdom 14 — Reid Clark’s 26 points paced the Bears as they cruised to a win over Wisdom Thursday in Easton.
Easton is now 13-3.
Wisdom falls to 2-12.
Easton 81, GHCA 53 — At Easton Jan. 31, Jonah Bacon had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bears past Greater Houlton Christian Academy.
Holden Turner added 22 points for 12-3 Easton while Hunter Turner had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Ethan Holmes led 6-8 GHCA with 19 points while Micah Wiley had 11.
Hodgdon 67, Fort Fairfield 44 — At Hodgdon Jan. 31, Hodgdon outscored Fort Fairfield, 41-24, in the second half to pull away with the 67-44 win.
The Hawks (11-4) were led by Chris Hudson and Josh Hudson who each had 16, Nick Lunn had 15, and Tyler Sherman had 14.
The Tigers were paced by Dereck Dufour who had a game-high 19 points and Lewis chipped in with 17. The Tigers are now 4-11.
Washburn 80, Ashland 23 — At Washburn Jan. 31, the Beavers improved to 13-1 with a win over the Ashland Hornets.
Washburn’s J. McLaughlin was the high scorer with 20 points. Worcester chipped in with 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals. Andrew McLaughlin added 10 points.
The 2-12 Hornets were led by Levesque’s eight points and 11 rebounds.
