OLD TOWN – What a difference a week – let alone a week of constant pounding by an alumni team your coach brought in to toughen you up – makes.

The Presque Isle boys could barely hit the broad side of the gym wall last week as they shot 29.1 percent from the field and lost their season-opening game. Saturday was a much different story as the Wildcats almost doubled their accuracy with a 53.4 average and simply sprinted away from the Indians for a 79-51 victory.

“It’s amazing what a difference it makes when you hit your shots,” said coach Tim Prescott, whose Wildcats improve to 2-1.

In Saturday’s varsity girls game, the Wildcats improved to 2-1 with a 62-52 win over the Indians.

Unlike last week, when PI’s top three players went a combined 6-for-37 from the field, the Wildcats top trio of Ryan Graves, Nick Casavant and Denis Saucier scorched Old Town for 28 points on 12-for-18 shooting in the first half – when the ‘Cats all but buried the Indians en route to a 23-point halftime lead.

“We came down here and wanted to give our coaches a little Christmas present because we don’t win here very often,” said Casavant, who finished with 11 points.

In the last eight years, Presque Isle teams are 3-13 at MacKenzie Gym. Then again, it’s been equally as fruitless for Old Town in the Star City as the Indians are 3-13 up there.

As good as the ‘Cats senior trio played, it was 5-foot-11 junior forward Fred Bird who may have enjoyed the game’s most stellar effort. He grabbed 10 of his game-high 13 rebounds in the first half and scored 16 points.

“I thought Fred Bird would be the best-kept secret in the conference this year, but right now, I think people know about him, especially if he keeps playing the way he has,” said Prescott. “He’s the best offensive rebounder for his height I think I’ve ever had.”

Presque Isle used an alternating zone trap and press to confuse and harass the Indians, who committed 10 turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the field in the first half. It didn’t help the Indians that senior point guard Jeremy Stormann is out until February with a broken wrist.

“It was like we were up in Presque Isle today. We tried to press them, but with their quickness, it was hard to match up,” said coach Marty Clark, whose Indians slump to 0-3. “We missed Jeremy in that regard today and we had some kids playing a bit out of position too with him being out.”

Any hope Old Town had of getting back in the game was dashed by a 19-2 PI run that began in the final two minutes of the first half and continued through the first three minutes of the second.

Casavant, Graves and Bird accounted for all 19 of the points during the game-deciding run.

“Last year I came off the bench and didn’t get that many rebounds,” said Bird. “This year I wanted to commit myself to getting rebounds and helping the team out. I went to a camp in Colby that really helped me.”

Graves scored a game-high 17 points and Saucier finished with 10 plus five assists for the Wildcats.

Sophomore forward Tyler Tracewski led the Indians with 12 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Shawn Tidwell opened some eyes by coming off the bench late and contributing eight points (on 4-for-4 shooting) and three steals.

In the girls game, Presque Isle stormed out of the locker room for a near-perfect third quarter as it turned a two-point lead into 14 at the end of the third quarter.

Senior center Autumn Tuttle led Presque Isle with 19 points, but it was reserve center Miranda Condon who put the spring in the ‘Cats third-quarter step with all seven of her points in that span.

“When she plays well offensively, it makes us a much better team,” said PI coach Jeff Hudson. “Our strength is getting the ball inside and we did a really good job of that in the third.”

The ‘Cats were also paced by sophomore forward Melissa DeMerchant (13 points) and junior guard Billie Blanchard (11).

“We had to play much better defense and we did that today, especially in the second half,” said freshman guard Natasha Deschene, who scored eight points.

Junior guard Renee Thibodeau led the Indians with 20 points while senior swing player Mallory Brown chipped with 10.

Presque Isle girls (2-1) 62

Deschene 2-2-8, Delong 1-2-4, McKenna, Post, Condon 3-1-7, DeMerchant 6-1-13, McHatten, Henrickson, Blanchard 3-5-11, Bishop, Tuttle 8-3-19, Zeddergren

Old Town (2-1) 52

K. Spencer 4-0-9, Greene 1-0-2, Marquis 0-2-2, Thibodeau 6-6-20, D. .Spencer, Brown 5-0-10, L. Mitchell, Cole, K. Mitchell, Metivier 3-0-6

3-pt. goals: Deschene 2; K. Spencer, Thibodeau 2

Presque Isle 13 24 46 62

Old Town 14 22 32 52

WILDCATS 79, INDIANS 51

Presque Isle boys (2-1) Old Town (0-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Carlin 0 1 0 0 0 Emerson 3 6 9

Graves 6 10 4 4 17 Tidwell 4 4 8

James 1 4 0 0 2 Dupuis 0 1 0

Deschene 2 2 2 3 7 Reardon 1 4 2

Saucier 4 9 0 0 10 Petrie 0 3 1

Lockhart 2 2 0 0 4 Kenniston 3 9

Casavant 5 10 0 0 11 Tracewski 6 11 0 0 12

Bird 6 9 3 3 16 Tewhey 0 4 0 0

Doughty 0 1 0 0 0 King 2 5 5

Hall 2 3 2 4 6 Brown 1 5 1 3

Fortin 3 7 0 0 6 Miller 1 3 2

Totals 31 58 11 14 79 21 55 51

Presque Isle 20 45 61 79

Old Town 9 22 34 51

3-pt. goals: Presque Isle (6-14): Saucier 2-4, Deschene 1-1, Bird 1-2, Graves 1-2, Casavant 1-3, Carlin 0-1, James 0-1; Old Town (6-16): Kenniston 3-6, Emerson 3-6, Reardon 0-1, Petrie 0-1, Tewhey 0-1, Miller 0-1

Attendance: 350 (est.)

Preliminary: Old Town JVs 79-64