Defense, scoring balance help Bangor win 2

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BANGOR – The boys were coming off an exhibition tournament and five games in four days; the girls hadn’t stepped on the court against an opponent in 10 days. But Saturday’s results were the same for the Bangor basketball teams against Caribou.

The Bangor boys used tenacious second-half defense to earn a 52-45 victory over the Vikings, and the Ram girls got a well-rounded scoring effort to complete a sweep with a 57-41 win.

The defending Class A state champion Ram boys go to 4-0 and the girls are now 1-2 after the doubleheader wins at Red Barry Gym. The Caribou boys and girls both fall to 2-4.

In the boys game, the Rams may have been tired after winning the Capital City Hoop Classic in Augusta last week, but they were able to summon enough energy in the second half to hold off the Vikings. The game was tied at 24-24 at halftime and Caribou had a 34-33 lead after three quarters.

“We expected we might be a little tired today,” Bangor coach Roger Reed said. “Still, that’s no excuse. Caribou played very well.”

Bangor’s Zak Ray (nine points) and Buddy Nickerson (a game-high 22 points) combined on a 9-2 scoring runthat gave the Rams the lead for good.

Ray hit a jumper in the lane seven seconds into the quarter, drew a foul and converted the 3-point play. Nickerson scored off a steal and after Caribou’s John Chasse put in a layup, Nickerson connected on an off-balance jump shot and hit a fast-break layup on consecutive possessions.

Bangor forced 12 second-half turnovers while committing six.

“We just wanted to get on the ball, get up in their face and stop the drive,” Nickerson said. “We were causing more turnovers and we were scoring off those turnovers. Points off turnovers helped us a lot in the fourth quarter.”

Joel Griffeth made two free throws for the Vikes but Ray extended the lead again off a pass from Casey Civiello to give Bangor a 44-38 lead with 3:34 left.

Griffeth (14 points) cut the lead to two points when he converted a conventional 3-point play later in a fourth but the Rams got to the free-throw line, hit 6 of 9 attempts, and held Caribou scoreless until Tyler Giles made a free throw with 21.3 seconds left.

The Vikings played a 2-3 matchup zone to try to limit Nickerson’s shooting.

“I thought our 2-3 matchup zone worked well,” Caribou coach Chris Casavant said. “The Nickerson kid’s a great player, he’s going to get his looks and knock some down. You just want to minimize that as much as possible.”

Derrick Shain added eight points and seven rebounds for Bangor. Giles scored nine points for the Vikings.

In the girls game, Katherine Miller went 6-for-13 from the floor en route to 14 points, and pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Rams, who jumped out to a 14-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Rams hadn’t played a game since a loss against MDI Dec. 19 (a game against Nokomis of Newport scheduled for Dec. 22 was postponed).

“We were definitely relieved to be playing because you can’t replicate practice,” Miller said. “It was good to come out here and get a win.”

Bangor did a fine defensive job, limiting the Vikings to five field goals in the first three quarters. They also kept Jessica Cyr, Caribou’s only senior and a sharp perimeter shooter, from getting open. She finished with 16 points but made three baskets through three quarters.

“[Cyr and Caribou guard Leah Drew], they were good shooters and we knew we had to extend out on them,” said Bangor guard Erinne Magee, who scored 10 points. “We knew that Caribou didn’t have the size that they usually do, so that was in our game plan, to get out on their shooters.”

Caribou coach Jeff Jose said the Vikings were having trouble finding good shots.

“They put a lot of pressure on our shooters,” he said. “They were very aggressive defensively. We were trying to push the ball inside, which seemed to help. I was hoping we would draw some fouls.”

The Vikings responded at the line when they went into the bonus 55 seconds in the second quarter (Caribou went 12-for-18 in the first two periods). And the Vikes hit two 3-pointers in the final minute of the game.

“We made ’em when we had open looks,” Jose said. “We usually get a few more perimeter shots but Bangor was cutting those off.”

Bangor’s Marissa McLeod chipped in with 11 points. Laura Clarke contributed nine points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Selander and Lindsay Burlock combined for 16 Viking rebounds.

RAMS 52, VIKINGS 45

Caribou boys (2-4) Bangor (3-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

St. Peter 3 5 0 0 8 Rambo 0 0 0

Nedeau 1 3 0 0 2 Achorn 1 6 2

Nason 2 2 1 2 5 Ray 3 9 9

Chasse 2 2 2 3 6 Gallant 1 3 2

Griffeth 3 13 6 6 13 Bombardier 0 0

Cyr 0 1 1 2 1 Nickerson 9 15 22

Beaulieu 1 1 0 0 2 Civiello 0 0

Giles 3 7 2 4 8 K. Flynn 0 0

R. Flynn 3 4 8

Guerette 1 3 2

Shain 1 2 5 7

Totals 15 34 12 17 45 19 47 11 14 52

Caribou 16 24 34 45

Bangor 13 24 33 52

3-pt. goals: Caribou (3-9): St. Peter 2-2, Griffeth 1-5, Cyr 0-1; Bangor (3-11): Nickerson 3-8, Ray 0-1, Achorn 0-2

Attendance: 300 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JV 66-44

RAMS 57, VIKINGS 41

Caribou girls (2-4) Bangor (1-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Dubois 0 0 0 0 0 Magee 4 14 10

Bouchard 1 4 2 3 4 Tower 2 3 4

Harrigan 0 3 0 0 0 Clarke 1 4 9

Cyr 5 12 4 7 16 McLeod 5 11 0 11

Vincent 2 4 0 0 5 Miller 6 13 14

Burlock 1 2 4 6 6 McCrum 0 2 0

Drew 2 6 0 0 5 Russell 0 0 0 0

Selander 0 7 5 6 5 Johnson 0 0 0

Philbrick 0 0 0 0 0 Hayden 1 2 2

Woodcock 0 0 0

Robertson 0 0 1

McAllian 2 2 6

Ogden 0 1 0 0

Totals 11 38 15 22 41 21 52 12 21 57

Caribou 5 19 23 41

Bangor 14 28 40 57

3-pt. goals: Caribou (4-14): Cyr 2-6, Vincent 1-2, Drew 1-2, Bouchard 0-1, Harrigan 0-3; Bangor (3-11): Magee 2-8, McLeod 1-2, McCrum 0-1

Attendance: 250 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JV 94-20