Bangor cruises past Lawrence > Rams rebound from disappointing loss to post 9th victory

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Bangor’s disappointing, three-overtime loss to Caribou on Monday night took a lot out of the Rams physically and mentally.

But, although Bangor was a bit sluggish in the early going, it was back to business as usual for the Rams Tuesday night.

Bangor held Lawrence of Fairfield to 18 first-half points and streaked away in the second half while posting a convincing 72-44 Class A basketball victory at Red Barry Gym in Bangor.

Coach Roger Reed’s ballclub, which faces a Wednesday game against Hampden Academy, improved to 9-3 with the win. The Rams knew there could be no letdown, in spite of Monday’s difficult loss.

“After three overtimes (Monday) night, everybody was really tired today,” said Bangor’s Mark Reed. “In school, everybody was sort of draggy. We tried to get as rested up as we could after school. When it was game time, we were ready to play. We knew they’d come up fighting.”

Bangor extended a 10-point halftime lead to 16 after three quarters, then padded their lead while using the bench down the stretch. Bangor wound up shooting 54 percent from the field, thanks in great part to the 36 points it scored off layups.

The Rams utilized a combination of man-to-man, 1-3-1, and 2-1-2 defenses while virtually shutting off the Bulldogs, who shot only 27 percent from the floor. Bangor outrebounded Lawrence 40-27.

“I told them, `the game we played (Monday) night is over,’ ” Coach Reed said. ” `We can’t be tired. It’s a matter of minds over bodies. We’ve just got to muster it up and play.’ ”

The sweet shooting of Aaron Harris kept the Bulldogs, now 4-9, close in the first half. Bangor built an 18-6 advantage early in the second quarter, but Harris poured in 13 of his game-high 21 points in the period, including three 3-pointers.

Yet, the Rams retaliated with an 8-0 flurry. John Tennett opened the run with a move in the paint off a feed from Chris Pickering, who made a fast-break layup off a Reed assist 20 seconds later.

A steal by Tennett led to Bill Newman’s 10-footer from the lane and Newman added two free throws to put the Rams on top 28-16. Lawrence cut the deficit to 10 on a Jason Buck hoop before intermission, then crept within six on two Billy Cole foul shots in the opening seconds of the second half.

However, Bangor went on a 9-1 run during the next three minutes to begin pulling away. Newman’s free throw started that rally. Reed scored a transition layup and Tennett sandwiched two foul shots and a fast-break layup off a nifty pass from Reed around a Cole free throw to make it 35-21 with 5:10 left in the third.

Reed capped the run with a driving baseline layup and the Bulldogs never got closer than 11 the rest of the way. Bangor pushed its lead back to 47-30 with 24 seconds left in the third on a 6-0 mini-run.

The Rams went on to outscore the Bulldogs 10-2 over the first 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth to put it away. Newman sparked the spurt with a 19-foot jumper and capped it with a layup off the break.

In between, Ryan Bradford banked in an eight-footer, Kip Keeling made two free throws, and Bradford canned an 18-foot jumper.

Dean Heistand converted from underneath off an assist by Reed, Steve Subjoc made a basket off a rebound, and Reed hit a runner from the baseline to regain the momentum.

Newman led the way for Bangor’s well-balanced offense with 15 points and added two steals. Reed tossed in 12 points and also had six rebounds and five assists.

Bradford scored 10 points; Tennett provided eight points, five assists, and four steals; and Brent Brown added seven points.

Bangor received quality contributions by its bench, with Tom LeClair, Keeling, Heistand, Subjoc, Pickering and Brown turning in strong minutes.

Harris was the only effective offensive performer for Lawrence. He finished with four 3-pointers. Cole and Ryan Witham added five points each.

Rams 72, Bulldogs 44

Bangor Lawrence

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

B. Newman 10 6 4 3 15 Achorn 4 1 0 0 2

Bradford 8 5 0 0 10 Dyer 3 0 0 0 0

Tennett 6 3 2 2 8 Richards 2 2 1 1 5

Subjoc 4 2 0 0 4 Harris 19 7 4 3 21

Reed 8 5 5 2 12 Cole 7 1 4 3 5

LeClair 3 0 2 2 2 Marean 1 0 0 0 0

Keeling 2 0 4 2 2 Knights 1 0 0 0 0

M. Newman 0 0 0 0 0 Buck 5 1 3 1 3

Murray 1 0 0 0 0 Witham 5 2 0 0 5

Brown 5 3 0 0 7 Pouliot 1 0 0 0 0

Heistand 4 2 0 0 4 Goggin 2 0 4 3 3

Pickering 3 2 1 0 4 Whitten 0 0 0 0 0

Clark 1 1 1 0 2 Tatham 2 0 0 0 0

Jarvis 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 56 30 19 11 72 Totals 52 14 16 11 44

Bangor 14 28 47 72

Lawrence 3 18 31 44

Preliminary: Lawrence JVs 42, Bangor JVs 36

3-pt. goals: Bangor (1-10): LeClair 0-1, Keeling 0-2, Parke 0-1, B. Newman 0-1, Murray 0-1, Brown 1-2, Heistand 0-1, Reed 0-1; Lawrence (5-10): Witham 1-1, Harris 4-7, Cole 0-2