BANGOR – If the Bangor boys were feeling a little undermanned coming into Tuesday night’s game against Old Town, it didn’t show on the court.

Despite the absence of starters Hampton Clarkson (knee surgery) and Duane Peoples (bruised ribs Friday at Gardiner game) – two of the team’s best inside players – the Rams charged out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed en route to a 71-52 victory at Red Barry Gymnasium.

Bangor, now 7-1, was also able to win the battle inside with 34 rebounds, 29 of which were defensive, to Old Town’s 27.

After junking the matchup zone defense that the Rams shot a scalding 75 percent from the field against in the first quarter, the Indians were able to make things interesting in the second and third.

“I thought the kids might have been a little intimidated starting out, but when we switched from matchup zone to man-to-man, that made a big difference,” said Old Town coach Marty Clark. “We usually start in zone to stay out of foul trouble, but they worked the perimeter so well we had to try something else.”

The result was an intensive man defense that helped the Indians outscore the Rams 17-7 in a four-minute span and draw within a basket (24-22) of Bangor with 3:07 left in the first half.

Bangor responded with eight of the next 10 points to take a 32-24 lead into the locker room.

Old Town’s emphasis switched to rebounding in the third quarter as Pete Fournier grabbed five of his six boards and converted two three-point plays to help the Indians stay close, but Bangor had another strong finish with five of the final seven points, and then six of the first eight in the final quarter as Old Town was never closer than eight points the rest of the way.

“We didn’t move the basketball as well as we like, but we did a nice job inside and we stayed out of foul trouble for the most part,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed.

Bangor turned in perhaps its most balanced scoring effort of the season with all five starters in double figures. Elliot Blackstone made up for a cold start with 10 of his 19 points and four of his seven rebounds in the fourth quarter.

“I felt really ugly for awhile in the first half, but hitting that shot just before the [third] quarter ended gave me some confidence shooting because they were missing by just a couple inches up to that point,” said the senior guard.

Other Rams’ standouts were junior forward Nick Loukes, who had 14 points, nine rebounds, and five assists and sophomore forward Joe Campbell with 10 points, 11 boards, and five blocks. James Bradford and Corey Gildart scored 12 and 10, respectively.

“I thought really their whole balanced effort was the most impressive thing about them and it was really a total team defensive effort,” said Clark, who was missing starting forward Jason Sirois, who badly sprained his ankle in practice last week.

The guy who took up most of the slack in Sirois’ absence was junior guard Scott Godsoe, who scored 13 of his team-high 18 points in Old Town’s second quarter rally.

Rams 71, Indians 52

Old Town (4-3) Bangor (7-1)

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

Emerson 3 9 0 0 7 Loukes 5 7 4 10 14

Doucette 0 1 0 0 0 Gildart 4 9 0 0 10

Thibeault 0 3 0 0 0 Blackstone 6 12 6 8 19

Godsoe 7 20 2 3 18 Crane 2 5 0 0 4

Thibodeau 3 15 4 4 11 St. Pierre 0 0 0 0 0

Kenniston 0 4 3 4 3 Campbell 2 3 6 8 10

Warney 0 0 0 0 0 Bradford 5 5 2 4 12

Fournier 3 6 2 4 8 Johnson 0 1 0 0 0

Pardilla 2 3 0 0 5 Chadbourne 1 2 0 0 2

Miller 0 0 0 0 0 Quirk 0 0 0 0 0

Civiello 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 18 61 11 15 52 Totals 25 44 18 30 71

Old Town 5 24 37 52

Bangor 15 32 43 71

3-pt. goals: Old Town (5-21): Godsoe 2-9, Pardilla 1-1, Emerson 1-3, Thibodeau 1-4, Kenniston 0-2, Thibeault 0-2; Bangor (3-7): Gildart 2-4, Blackstone 1-2, Loukes 0-1

Attendance: 488

Preliminary: Bangor JVs 59-32