McFarland, MDI heat up late to top Orono in opener

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ORONO – The rust on both teams from a long offseason was readily apparent from the opening tip-off.

But while Mount Desert Island’s shooters heated up as the game wore on, Orono’s went from fair to poor.

It took Matt McFarland three quarters to do it, but he shook off a thick layer of rust and spurred the visiting Trojans to a fourth-quarter rally and a 47-44 victory over Orono before a large group of appreciative MDI fans at Orono High School Saturday evening.

The win was a bit of payback for 1-0 MDI as the last time the two teams met, the seventh-seeded Red Riots upset the top-ranked Trojans 58-57 in the Eastern Maine Class B championship game.

“It feels great to come up here and beat them in their own gym. It means more than if we had beaten anybody else just because we lost to them in the Eastern Maine finals like that last year,” said Ben Ketchen, who led the Trojans with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Although Ketchen was the offensive leader, it was McFarland who made the victory possible.

MDI’s senior forward exploded in the opening minutes of the final quarter. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first minute and scored eight of MDI’s first 10 points in the quarter.

“I thought the key was McFarland hitting those threes,” said Orono coach David Paul. “It not only got them back in the ballgame, it got their energy level up and ther inside game opened up.”

McFarland’s outburst erased a nine-point Orono lead and gave the Trojans their first lead of the game – 35-34 with 5:42 to play.

“We didn’t push the panic button, we pushed up the intensity,” said Ketchen. “We started to press and we got some turnovers and shots off turnovers.”

McFarland, who had all 10 of his points, three of his four rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot in the fourth quarter, fueled a 15-0 Trojans’ run that made it 44-36 with 2:57 left in the game.

“I really hadn’t done much all game,” said McFarland. “I missed a lot of shots and had a few turnovers, and I knew we had to play a lot better in the fourth quarter. I knew if I came out strong, it would pick them up.”

Not only that, but McFarland’s shooting forced Orono to come out of the 2-3 zone defense it used to combat MDI’s size advantage and freed up Ketchen and 6-foot-5 sophomore forward Aaron Gray (nine points, 12 boards) under the basket.

Orono refused to roll over, however. The Riots had some fouls to give and made up ground as the Trojans missed the front end of two 1-and-1 foul shots and hit only three of seven down the stretch.

Riots guard Jeremy Poulin (15 points, eight rebounds) scored his second basket in 55 seconds to make it 46-44 MDI with 16 seconds to go, but it was as close as Orono would get.

After Matt Ingrisano’s foul shot made it 47-44, Orono sharpshooter Robey Rhoads couldn’t connect on two 3-point attempts in the final six seconds and the Trojans held on for the win.

After shooting 50 percent in the opening quarter, it was all downhill for Orono. The Riots were 0-for-8 in the second quarter, 5-for-13 in the third (39 percent) and 4-for-21 (19 percent) in the fourth.

As Orono’s shooting wilted, so did MDI’s (24 percent, 17, 16) – until the final quarter, when the Trojans blistered the net at a 73 percent clip (8-for-11).

“He had to play his guards a lot tonight and I think they got fatigued at the end of the game,” said MDI coach Wilton Jones. “We were able to rotate a lot of people, playing 10 people tonight, and I thought in the fourth quarter, that was the difference.”

Trojans 47, Red Riots 44

MDI boys (1-0) Orono (0-1)

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

Norwood 1 5 0 0 3 Rhoads 3 14 0 1 7

Jones 1 5 2 2 4 Myers 0 5 0 0 0

Ingrisano 1 7 1 2 3 Poulin 6 8 2 5 15

Reed 0 2 0 1 0 Chandler 0 0 0 0 0

McFarland 3 10 2 3 10 Lapointe 0 0 0 0 0

Bundy 0 4 0 0 0 Cunningham 5 12 4 7 17

Nicholson 0 1 0 0 0 Means 0 0 0 0 0

Gray 4 10 1 3 9 Johnson 0 2 0 0 0

Ketchen 8 21 2 4 18 Enos 0 2 3 4 3

Doreika 0 2 0 0 0 Torrey 0 3 0 0 0

Terrill 1 8 0 0 2

Totals 18 67 8 15 47 Totals 15 54 9 17 44

Mount Desert Island 8 17 25 47

Orono 15 20 34 44

3-pt. goals: MDI (3-10): McFarland 2-4, Norwood 1-3, Ingrisano 0-2; Orono (5-17): Cunningham 3-7, Poulin 1-2, Rhoads 1-7, Johnson 0-1

Preliminary: MDI JVs 72, Orono JVs 41