York to rely on defense vs. Orono in state final

Defense has won 19 basketball games for York and Coach Rick Brault is hoping it can win one more when his Wildcats take on the Orono Red Riots for the Class B boys state title at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday at approximately 8:45 p.m.

While the Western Maine champion Wildcats feature two 1,000-point scorers in seniors Stephane Webster (forward) and Avery Smith (guard), York’s strength throughout the season has been its defense, while the offense jelled the final few weeks of the regular season.

“Defense has been our bread and butter,” said Brault. “Some games our offense has been relatively flat, but our defense has held us on track.”

The Wildcats can feature several effective defensive looks to baffle their opponents and have been paced by seniors Webster and Smith along with 6-foot-4 center Joe Sowerby, 5-4 point guard Steve Bailey, and sophomore Pete Webster, Stephane’s brother, who is a 6-1 forward.

“We’ve had some outstanding leadership from the four seniors who start. They’re all quality athletes,” said Brault, adding that in the tourney the Wildcats also received a strong contribution from their bench.

“They all played their roles to a `T’ at Augusta,” he said.

The Wildcats are on a roll as they finished the regular season as the top seed in WM “B” and have won 10 straight games with the three tourney wins.

Brault had his team set and achieve goals in each game and it wasn’t until two weeks remained in the regular season that the Wildcats started aiming for the WM championship.

The championship goal had become a realistic one because, along with York’s defense, the offense started to peak as the Wildcats realized the importance of being able to set the tempo and control the game, Brault said.

“The kids have learned they can control the tempo or turn the faucet loose and let all the guns go,” he said. “It’s a crucial thing in high school basketball to have that arsenal – to be able to turn on and turn off the tempo.”

The Wildcats showed their ability to control the tempo in the tourney as they avenged last year’s WM title loss by beating Mountain Valley of Rumford 55-53. York was deliberate in that title game, but showed it could put a lot of points on the board in the other two tourney games when it rolled by Gray-New Gloucester in the semifinal 81-65 and Lake Region of Bridgton in the quarterfinal 90-66.

York is making its first trip to back to the state championship since 1972 when it won a state crown in Class C. In 1969, the Wildcats were defeated in the Class B state game by Orono 64-45.

The Wildcats seem to be similar to the Red Riots as both teams feature strong defenses and have the ability to push the ball up the court or bang it inside with a well-disciplined offense.

Orono Coach Willie Gavett said his team is peaking at the right time.

“We’ll do what we have to do to win. We’ll run with them if we have to or we’ll slow it down if we have to,” said Gavett, who played on Orono’s 1967 state championship team.

The Red Riots, now 18-3, feature guards Jamie Beaudoin and Mark Smith along with Jon Hume (5-10), Scott Ismail (6-3), Jay Vetelino (6-2), and Dave Best (6-1) up front.