BANGOR – All season long, Bangor coach Roger Reed has been after starting guard Joe Vanidestine to shoot more.

Since the unassuming senior has felt uncomfortable taking a lot of shots for fear of being a “ball hog,” Reed has literally been yelling at Vanidestine to shoot whenever he’s open.

Well, shoot Vanidestine did Tuesday night, and for the third straight game, he shot well. Vanidestine went 4-for-6 from 3-point range en route to 15 points as he helped lead his Rams to a 47-42 victory over previously unbeaten John Bapst at a fan-packed Red Barry Gymnasium. Both teams are now 6-1.

“I had a couple good looks early and when you hit those first couple shots, it gives you more confidence and you’re more in the flow of the game,” Vanidestine said. “I’m just trying to help my team out. Coach has been on me all year about shooting more, but it’s hard for me … I’m just trying to do what coach says.”

Thanks to Vanidestine’s outside shooting, the Crusaders couldn’t double- and triple-team Bangor star forward Joe Campbell, who finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“We did a decent job on Campbell. I told the guys if we could hold him to 15, we’ll probably win,” said John Bapst coach Mike Miragliuolo. “That was the case, but we didn’t win and I think that was just because Vanidestine stepped up.

“If they have some other guys start scoring other than Campbell, they’re going to have a pretty strong team.”

Ironically, Vanidestine’s shooting also forced Bapst to switch from man-to-man to a 2-2-1 zone trap defense to cut down the effectiveness of the screens Bangor was running to free up Vanidestine. The result was a 9-0 run which started the second half and tied the game (25-25).

“I told them they were going to do that, but it was more effective than I thought it would be and I don’t know why,” Reed said.

Bangor scored the next six, but Bapst came right back with seven straight to make it 32-31 Bapst with 5:58 left to play and the game was back-and-forth the rest of the way.

Rams center-forward Eric Bell was involved in the pivotal play of the game as he drove into the low post after getting a zipped pass inside and drew a foul. Bapst forward Zev Myerowitz slammed the ball in frustration even though the foul was called on another player and drew a technical foul.

Bangor made three of the four free throws to go up 41-37 with 1:42 left. Bapst outrebounded Bangor 30-22 overall and outshot the Rams 38.5 percent to 37.2 from the field, but never led or tied in the final five minutes.

“The difference was losing our composure on offense a couple times when we had dumb turnovers at the end,” said Miragliuolo. “I think obviously the technical was key too, giving them four shots and the ball.”

With a minute left, Bell scored the last of his nine points on a fast- break hoop in the paint to make it 43-39, but Bapst center Charlie Owen (12 points, 11 rebounds) came back with a 3-pointer at the other end eight seconds later, but time was starting to become a huge factor as Bangor continued to spread its offense.

“We went to extending the defense more with about two minutes left to make them think we were gonna hold it when we were really looking for a chance to go underneath, which we did,” Reed said.

Bapst eventually had to foul and Bangor made four of its last six fouls shots to pull out the win.

The Crusaders committed nine turnovers to Bangor’s six.

Crusaders sophomore guard Wesley Day turned in a solid effort all-around with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Bangor 47, John Bapst 42

John Bapst (6-1) Bangor (6-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

Payne 6 14 2 2 14 Hinton 0 0 0 0

McCree 0 1 0 0 0 Vanidestine 5 11 15

Snyder 1 1 0 0 2 Ray 0 1 0 0

Jellison 0 1 0 0 0 Shea 1 7 3

Day 4 9 3 5 12 Anderson 0 1 0

McElwain 0 0 0 0 0 Bombardier 0 0

Z.Myerowitz 0 4 0 0 0 Campbell 5 15 4 4 14

Russell 0 0 2 2 2 Johnson 2 3 0 4

Owen 4 9 2 2 12 Bell 2 2 5 9

Baldus 0 0 0 0 0 Flynn 0 0 0 0

Shain 1 1 0 2

Totals 15 39 9 11 42 Totals 16 43 11 14 47

John Bapst 6 12 28 42

Bangor 12 25 31 47

3-pt. goals: John Bapst (3-9): Owen 2-2, Day 1-2, Jellison 0-1, McCree 0-1, Payne 0-3; Bangor (4-8): Vanidestine 4-6, Campbell 0-2

Attendance: 1,000 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JV 57-39