The Bangor Rams often have a difficult time matching up with opponents’ post players man-to-man.

To make up for their lack of a big, physical center, the Rams have played tenacious team defense and helped out inside when then they could. Bangor displayed its defensive prowess again Friday night.

Coach Roger Reed’s Rams limited Brewer to three third-quarter field goals while pulling away for a 78-47 Big East Conference basketball victory over Brewer at the Bangor Auditorium.

Bangor’s assortment of defensive post players held 6-foot-5 Brewer center Chris Harper scoreless, while the Rams outrebounded the Witches 38-29 in the game.

Bangor, 6-2, unleashed its numerous offensive weapons, who were frequently set up in the open court thanks to a strong overall rebounding effort. The Rams broke the contest open after a sluggish first half, riding a 14-3 spurt to a 50-28 lead after three quarters.

Ryan Bradford get the Rams’ second-half charge rolling, completing a conventionl 3-point play with a driving move in the paint and adding the free throw. Bradford then scored on a fast-break layup off a Mark Reed assist as Bangor moved out to a 34-18 lead with 6:45 to play in the third.

Brian Colman and Andy Bladen helped keep 5-3 Brewer within striking distance, with two Colman free throws making it 44-28 late in the quarter. However, Dean Heistand scored from down low, John Tennett hit a short jumper and Reed buried a 19-footer at the buzzer as the Rams retaliated.

“We’ve got overall height and when we play big teams – they’ve got Harper and Bladen – we’ve got to play a little harder, pick up the intensity on defense,” Bradford said. “The first half we had a little trouble getting going on defense and it hurt us offensively, but we got it going in the second half.”

Newman sparked Bangor’s balanced scoring with 14 points and made two steals on the defensive end. Reed dictated the flow for the Rams, scoring 13 points and adding six rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.

Bradford finished with 11 points and seven rebounds and Tom LeClair pumped in 11 fourth-quarter points, including three 3-pointers. Tennett had six rebounds.

Colman paced the Witches with a game-high 15 points, led all rebounders with nine, and made two steals. Bladen provided 13 points and seven rebounds and Chris Horr added 10 points for Brewer, which shot 24 percent (16-for-66) from the field.

The Rams owned a 29-18 halftime advantage thanks to gritty defense and opportunistic transition play. Newman connected for 14 first-half points on a variety of jumpers to fuel Bangor’s offense, while the rebounding of Bradford helped the Rams get some transition hoops.

Reed turned in a particularly tenacious defensive effort, badgering Brewer point guard Horr and holding him scoreless.

Bladen helped the Witches avoid falling further behind while taking charge on the offensive end in the last four minutes of the half. The Witches backup center worked hard in the paint while scoring eight straight points for Brewer during an 8-2 minirun that cut the deficit to 25-18 with 1:31 left in the half.

However, Newman hit a 10-foot jumper off the break and then converted off his own steal with a 13-footer from the lane to send the Rams into the locker room with an 11-point edge.

Bangor played 12 players in the first half, including sophomore Rob Jarvis and freshman Nat Clark in the post to contend Brewer’s Harper.

Rams 78, Witches 47

Bangor boys Brewer

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

B. Newman 11 7 0 0 14 Horr 10 4 0 0 10

Bradford 8 5 1 1 11 Reynolds 7 1 0 0 2

Tennett 3 1 0 0 2 Oxley 3 1 3 2 4

Reed 12 6 3 1 13 Colman 21 5 2 2 15

Jarvis 1 1 2 0 2 Harper 11 0 0 0 0

LeClair 7 4 0 0 11 Dore 5 1 0 0 3

Keeling 3 2 2 1 5 Whitmore 0 0 0 0 0

Parke 1 0 0 0 0 Millett 0 0 0 0 0

M. Newman 2 2 1 1 5 Billings 0 0 1 0 0

Brown 6 3 2 1 7 Bladen 8 4 7 5 13

Heistand 5 3 0 0 6 Dauphinee 1 0 0 0 0

Subjoc 0 0 0 0 0

Pickering 2 0 0 0 0

Clark 2 0 2 2 2

Totals 63 34 13 7 78 Totals 66 16 13 9 47

Bangor 17 28 50 78

Brewer 8 18 28 47

3-pt. goals: Bangor (3-9): LeClair 3-5, Brown 0-2, Reed 0-2; Brewer (6-19): Dore 1-2, Horr 2-4, Reynolds 0-1, Colman 3-11, Dauphinee 0-1