BREWER – The old basketball barn which sits smack dab in the middle of the Brewer High School campus has never been a favorite visiting place for Eastern Maine Class A hoop teams.
This year, it’s been a downright House from Hell.
Thursday’s guests, the big and talented Caribou High School boys basketball team, found out the hard way as Brewer’s vaunted, endline-to-endline, never-let-down, run-and-jump defense wore down the Vikings and gave the Witches an 85-77 upset victory.
Brewer, now 5-1 on the season, has made a statement with its latest win and the message is simple: The Witches’ no-name roster, which runs 11 players deep, is now a downright legitimate contender for postseason consideration.
Stopping Caribou’s 1-2 punch of 6-foot-5 senior Chris Funk and 6-4 junior Brett Doody proved difficult for Brewer. Funk hit for 28, Doody 19.
Instead, the Witches went out and outscored the 3-2 Vikings by hitting 30 of their 56 field goals.
Jared Seavey, a 6-2 senior, got off to a quick start, nailing three first-quarter 3-point shots to stake Brewer to an early 13-6 lead it would never relinquish.
That lead, which was built to as much as 32-15 early in the second quarter, was tested in the final eight minutes as Caribou pulled to within 69-64 with 5:10 left.
Down the stretch, though, Brewer made 14 of 14 free throws to ice it.
“This was a monster game for us,” said Brewer coach Mark Savage. “Caribou is a great team. Chris Funk, with Doody beside him, are such a formidble tandem. But we’ve got 11 kids that are just even. They’re young. They’re exciting.”
While Seavey’s 24 points led the Witches and Jason Leighton added 19, it was the output of some lesser-known Witches that helped carry Brewer over the top.
Adam King, a lanky 6-3 sophomore; Mike Johnston, a 6-1 junior forward; and James Hinckley, a 6-5 sophomore center, combined to score 26 points. King hit two 3-pointers to help Seavey and Leighton with the outside game, while Johnston and Hinckley, matched up against Caribou’s inside game, had 10 and six, respectively.
In the girls game, Erin Cole-Karagory scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but more importantly stepped up at a key juncture of the fourth quarter to help the Vikings pull out the win.
Karagory scored 18 points to help Caribou build a 38-23 lead with 2:41 left in the third quarter.
An 18-3 run by Brewer, capped on a heads up steal-and-layup hoop by Denise Hewes, tied the game as Caribou went through a five-minute field goal drought.
Finally, with the game tied at 41-all, Cole-Karagory answered Hewes’ hoop by hitting an 8-footer from the baseline, giving the lead back to the Vikings.
“I knew I had to do something,” Cole-Karagory said. “We just couldn’t get into sync, so I knew I had to step up, do something, and get things going back the other way. I was kind of scared. I was trying to get everybody back under control. I had a feeling we were going to pull it out, though.”
Carlyn McCormack and Cole-Karagory each added free throws, but the Witches still had a chance to tie the game when Hewes went to the foul line with nine seconds left and her team trailing 45-43.
Hewes – who finished with 20 points and seven assists – missed both foul shots, securing the win for Caribou.
In addition to her statistical output, Cole-Karagory also played tough defense on Brewer’s top inside threat, Brynn Clough. Clough scored four points on 2-for-12 shooting.
Witches 85, Vikings 77
Caribou Brewer boys
Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP
Griffeth 3 3 3 7 9 Leavitt 1 8 2 4 4
St. Peter 2 3 2 2 6 Leighton 5 8 8 8 19
Doody 8 18 2 5 19 Seavey 8 13 5 6 24
Funk 12 24 3 4 28 Thomas 3 6 2 4 8
Ouellette 1 3 0 0 2 Somes 0 1 0 0 0
Smith 2 4 2 3 6 Johnston 5 7 0 0 10
Raymond 2 5 1 2 5 Hinckley 3 3 0 0 6
Guerrette 0 0 0 0 0 King 4 5 0 0 10
Dalton 0 2 0 0 0 Billings 0 2 2 2 2
Soucie 1 2 0 0 2 Bennett 1 3 0 0 2
Freeman 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 64 13 23 77 Totals 30 56 19 24 85
Caribou 15 32 54 77
Brewer 26 43 63 85
3-pt. goals: Caribou (2-7): Funk 1-4, Doody 1-3; Brewer (6-8): Seavey 3-4, King 2-2, Leighton 1-1, Billings 0-1.
Vikings 46, Witches 43
Caribou girl Brewer
Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP
Carter 3 7 3 7 9 Flagg 3 9 0 0 6
Cole-Kar’g’ry 10 21 1 2 21 Hewes 7 15 5 11 20
Umphrey 1 4 2 5 4 Cammack 2 3 0 0 4
McCormack 3 4 1 2 7 Clough 2 12 0 1 4
Smith 1 5 0 2 2 Sevigny 3 6 1 2 7
Anderson 1 3 1 2 3 Burnett 1 4 0 0 2
Michaud 0 0 0 0 0 Bridges 0 3 0 0 0
Jose 0 0 0 0 0 Tudor 0 5 0 0 0
Perrault 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 19 44 8 20 46 Totals 18 57 6 14 43
Caribou 12 23 38 46
Brewer 7 12 29 43
3-pt. goals: Caribou (0-1): Cole-Karagory 0-1; Brewer (1-6): Hewes 1-4, Flagg 0-1, Burnett 0-1.
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