End of regular season looms
By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
The high school basketball regular season is winding down quickly.
In fact, Friday is the final day for games to be played. The Heal Point standings will become official this weekend and the preliminary round of the playoffs are set for Feb. 12 and 13.
There was significant movement in the standings since last week, thanks to a pair of upsets in Eastern Maine Class D play Thursday.
The Easton boys were able to sneak away with a 54-53 victory over Central Aroostook in Mars Hill, while the Fort Fairfield boys traveled to Washburn and handed the Beavers their first loss of the season, 64-61.
The Bears are in ninth place but now have an outside shot of securing a top-eight seeding, which means staying home for their playoff game, thanks to their big win.
“This game really shows how far we’ve grown as a team since the start of the season,” said Easton’s second-year coach, Dillon Kingsbury.
“We always knew we could compete with anybody, but never actually could pull off a big win.”
Easton trailed by 13 points in the second half, but battled back. Logan Halvorson hit a free throw with two seconds left to provide the margin of victory.
Hunter Turner scored 18 points, Jared Hafford had 17 and Connor Burtt 16 for the winners, who improved to 13-3 with the win. The Bears played at Van Buren last night and finish their regular season Friday with a game in Washburn.
Joe Stiles scored 17 points and Chandler Brewer 13 for CA.
Central Aroostook, fourth in the division with a 12-4 record entering last night’s game at Washburn, ends its season on the road against Katahdin Thursday. The Panthers are currently on a three-game losing streak.
The Fort Fairfield Tigers are in 10th place with their final game played last night at home against Madawaska.
Fort took an 8-9 record into that game thanks to the win in Washburn.
Johnny Theriault netted a field goal with 10 seconds to play to key the three-point victory.
Andrew Lewis scored 17 points and Logan Craig added 16 for the Tigers.
Mitch Worcester poured in 37 points for Washburn, which currently is in second place with its 15-1 mark.
The Ashland boys recorded a 52-32 win at Wisdom Monday. Cody Blair scored 13 and Tyler Levesque 11 for the Hornets, who play at Van Buren Thursday to close out their season. They are ranked 17th out of 22 teams with their 6-11 record.
The Presque Isle boys have dropped down to fourth place in EM Class B. The Wildcats were 13-3 heading into last night’s final home game against Fort Kent. PI travels to Caribou Friday to wrap up the regular season.
Brad Shields scored 18 points and snared 15 rebounds in a come-from-behind win over John Bapst Saturday in Bangor.
The Wildcat girls had little trouble staying unbeaten after lopsided wins over Houlton last Wednesday (71-26) and John Bapst Saturday (71-36).
Presque Isle, 17-0 entering Thursday’s finale in Caribou, is poised to finish No. 1 for the fourth consecutive season and draw a bye through the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
The Washburn girls are also perfect at 17-0 with one game remaining (tonight at Easton). The Beavers were impressive in rolling to a 77-40 home win over Central Aroostook Monday behind Mackenzie Worcester’s 30 points and 15 more from Carmen Bragg.
“We are stronger, quicker and deeper now as players have matured [as the season has progressed] and those with injuries are available,” said first-year Beaver coach Diana Trams.
Central Aroostook was led Monday by freshman Karli Levesque, who posted 15 points.
The Panthers held on to the 15th and final playoff position at presstime, with one game left to be played at home against Fort Fairfield Thursday.
The Tigers are in fifth place with their 12-4 record. Fort was in action last Wednesday at Washburn and suffered a 62-40 loss.
Easton is in 12th place with its 10-7 record following Monday’s 44-39 loss to Limestone-MSSM.
Carla Halvorson scored 16 points and Hannah Ferris contributed 13 for the Bears.
