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BANGOR – The Calais boys struck a mighty blow for Washington County basketball and against a decade’s worth of frustration at the Bangor Auditorium Friday afternoon.
The No. 2 Blue Devils used a swarming defensive effort while taking advantage of the two dirty words in the hoops vernacular – turnovers and fouls – to register a thoroughly convincing 66-40 victory over defending state and two-time defending Eastern Maine and state Class C champion Penquis.
“With Washington County ball, people say we’re notorious for just going up and down, no defense, run and gun, 90-point games … But I think we showed Washington County teams can play defense,” said senior forward James Frost, who paced the Devils with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots.
The Devils, now 18-2, will make their first regional final appearance in 10 years Saturday as they take on Friday night’s Piscataquis-Hodgdon winner in a 9 p.m. title matchup. The No. 3 Patriots of Milo finish their season 14-6.
“These guys had a good run,” said Pats coach Tony Hamlin. “We’ve basically fooled people all year with two solid players. We play good defense and we’re patient with the ball, but in 10 of the 14 games we won, we were probably out-talented.”
Unfortunately for Hamlin, his most solid player – 6-foot-3 forward Jeremy Allen – was battling a bad case of the flu Friday.
“He might have even been less than 60 percent,” Hamlin said. “We had a shootaround this morning and it’s the first time he’s been out of bed in two days. After that, he went home and went back to bed. It’s been going around the team.”
If that wasn’t enough, Allen was further saddled with foul trouble, picking up three in an 83-second span early in the second quarter. He was called for his fourth overall and second offensive early in the third and his fifth came with 7:21 to play after he hit back-to-back hoops to cut a 20-point Calais lead to 43-28. His frustration was obvious when he said something to an official and drew a technical foul.
“I lost my cool and I shouldn’t have done it,” said Allen, who finished with 15 points and four rebounds. “The last three years, we’ve had a lot of luck down here, but it didn’t carry over this time.”
Calais’ half-court press and tight, man defense helped force six early turnovers by the normally sure-handed Pats and the Devils used them to build a 17-4 lead. The Devils helped force 21 turnovers while committing just eight themselves.
Joe Footer, Calais’ 6-5 junior center, had another monster game both ways as Devils’ coach Randy Morrison opted to pound the ball inside early and often. Footer finished with a game-high 23 points and three of Calais’ seven blocks.
“We got a lot of movement defensively and offensively,” said Morrison. “We probably moved the ball around as well as we have all year.”
Junior forward Chris LaPointe did a great defensive job on Allen and freshman guard Andy Frost limited Penquis sharpshooter Ben Knapp to 11 points.
Blue Devils 66, Patriots 40
Penquis boys (14-6) Calais (18-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Perkins 0 0 0 0 0 Pelletier 2 7
Hamlin 0 2 0 0 0 Morrell 1 2 3
Chase 0 0 0 0 0 MacMannis 0 0
Knapp 3 7 3 4 11 Adams 0 3 0
Gray 1 2 0 0 2 Johnson 1 1 0 2
Learnard 1 5 0 0 2 J.Frost 7 13 17
Kissell 0 0 0 0 0 Lynch 0 0 1
Ladd 0 2 0 0 0 S.MacDonald 0 0 0
Webb 2 4 0 0 4 A.Frost 1 5 4 6
Gillis 1 2 0 0 2 J.MacDonald 3 6
Grindle 2 3 0 0 4 Leavitt 0 2 1
Allen 6 15 1 2 15 Footer 10 16 23
Heal 0 1 0 0 0 LaPointe 0 3 0
McKenzie 0 2 0 0 0
Totals 16 45 4 6 40 Totals 25 50 13 24 66
Penquis 4 14 23 40
Calais 10 24 43 66
3-pt. goals: Penquis (4-13): Knapp 2-5, Allen 2-5, Gray 0-1, Learnard 0-1, Ladd 0-1; Calais (3-10): Pelletier 1-1, Morrell 1-1, J. Frost 1-4, Adams 0-1, Leavitt 0-1, A. Frost 0-2
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