BANGOR – Timely free throws won it for both the Bangor girls and the Presque Isle boys basketball teams Saturday in a Class A high school basketball doubleheader at Red Barry Gym.

Sophomore Laura Clarke made two free throws with 12.1 seconds left, which proved to be the winning shots, to give the Rams a 47-43 victory over Presque Isle and their fifth straight win.

In the boys game, Wildcat senior Nick Casavant hit two foul shots with 5.2 seconds to go as Presque Isle earned a 43-41 victory over Bangor.

The Bangor girls (5-2) have won five straight since opening with two losses. Presque Isle falls to 4-4.

The defending Class A state champion Bangor boys (5-2) have lost two in a row. Presque Isle (8-1) has won eight straight and Saturday garnered its first victory at Red Barry Gym since 1990.

In the boys game, the Rams struggled from the free-throw line right from the opening minute of the game. Bangor had a chance to take a 4-0 lead because of a technical foul on Wildcat coach Tim Prescott (he was later ejected on a second technical) and another team foul. But the Rams made just two of the four shots, and went 6-for-11 overall. Presque Isle was 12-for-15 in the game.

The teams played to a halftime tie and Bangor gained a 36-30 lead at the end of the third quarter. But the Wildcats tied it up again in the fourth on three jump shots (two from Fred Bird) and a driving layup from Kyle James.

Ben Guerette made a free throw for Bangor to give the Rams a 39-38 advantage, but after a series of misses and timeouts, Denis Saucier (11 points) hit two free throws for a 40-39 PI lead with 46.9 to go.

Casavant sealed it with 6.5 seconds left. Bird made the front end of a 1-and-1 but missed the second shot. Casavant came up with the rebound and was fouled. He made both shots for a 43-39 advantage.

“[Assistant coach Ralph Michaud] told us in the huddle that rebounding was going to win the game and I think it did,” said Casavant, who scored 11 points and had nine rebounds. “We got some clutch rebounds and Fred missing the free throw was … kind of lucky. The ball went our way.”

Bangor guard Zak Ray drove inside for a layup with 0.8 to go, but the buzzer went off before anyone could get a shot off. Ray, who was tightly guarded by James much of the game, led the Rams with 10 points but was in foul trouble in the second half.

“I made some bad decisions on defense and with me on the bench, that doesn’t help us,” Ray said. “We didn’t take care of the ball in the last few minutes of the game and that really hurt. We played good defense but we couldn’t get the shots to fall.”

Michaud took over for Prescott but the Wildcats didn’t miss a beat (the two have been coaching together for 17 years, and Presque Isle girls coach Jeff Hudson assisted Michaud during the game).

“Once our coach got tossed it gave us a different kind of energy,” Saucier said. “It gave us some confidence and some firepower to win it for [Prescott and Michaud].”

In the girls game, the Rams had a stellar third quarter in which they rallied from an eight-point deficit thanks to their full-court press and six points from senior Katherine Miller.

“We built an eight-point lead and then all of a sudden we give up some quick hoops because we turned the ball over on the press,” Hudson said. “They have a good press and you’ve got to take care. When you come out of that first trap they’ve got numbers. All in all, I thought we played tough. We just didn’t execute down the stretch.”

Bangor went on a 14-2 run that started with a Miller put-back with 2:51 remaining in the third quarter and ended with Clarke’s basket off a steal 1:26 into the fourth. The Rams were up 42-37 at that point, but the Wildcats came back and tied it on baskets from Anna DeLong and Autumn Tuttle, and a Billi Blanchard free throw.

“We were just rushing it, taking quick shots and not rebounding,” Miller said.

A Miller free throw gave Bangor the lead with 1:10 left, but Presque Isle’s Miranda Condon hit a FT to tie it again. Then, Clarke was fouled after she stole an inbounds pass. She hit her shots for a 45-43 lead, then Miller scored an insurance basket with two seconds left.

Miller finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Ashley Tower and Erinne Magee each scored nine points and did damage from 3-point range (Magee hit three of her four attempts and Tower made her only try as the Rams went 5-for-7).

Transition baskets hurt Bangor in the first half, especially the baskets that Blanchard (16 points, six rebounds) put in. The junior is one of Presque Isle’s biggest offensive threats, and the Rams knew they had to keep the ball out of her hands.

“Our press was huge with me and Magee out front, and we were playing 1-on-1 with Blanchard,” Clarke said. “If she didn’t get the ball we knew they wouldn’t get much, so we stayed right on her and everyone helped out. I was on her and I wasn’t supposed to help out with anyone else, just stay with her.”

WILDCATS 43, RAMS 41

Presque Isle (8-1) Bangor (5-2)

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

Graves 4 6 0 0 8 Rambo 0 1 0 0

James 1 3 1 2 3 Achorn 2 4 0 5

Deschene 0 1 0 0 0 Ray 4 7 10

Saucier 3 7 4 4 11 Gallant 3 7 1 8

Lockhart 0 0 0 0 0 Bombardier 2 4

Casavant 3 15 5 6 11 Nickerson 2 10 1 3 6

Bird 3 7 1 3 7 Sutcliffe 0 1 0

Hall 0 3 0 0 0 Civiello 0 1 0

Fortin 1 2 1 2 3 R. Flynn 3 8 7

Guerette 0 3 1

Shain 0 0 0 0

Totals 15 44 12 15 43 16 50 6 11 41

Presque Isle 11 22 30 43

Bangor 13 22 36 41

3-pt. goals: Presque Isle (1-6): Saucier 1-3, Bird 0-1, Casavant 0-2; Bangor (3-8): Achorn 1-1, Gallant 1-3, Nickerson 1-3, Bombardier 0-1

Attendance: 450 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JV 57-42

RAMS 47, WILDCATS 43

Presque Isle girls (4-4) Bangor (5-2)

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

DeLong 2 4 1 3 5 Magee 3 10 0 9

McKenna 1 1 1 4 3 Tower 4 6 0 9

Post 0 4 0 0 0 Clarke 3 6 2 8

Condon 3 4 1 2 7 McLeod 1 7 1 3

Demerchant 3 5 0 2 6 Miller 6 11 15

McHatten 0 1 0 0 0 McCrum 0 0 0

Blanchard 6 12 3 6 16 Johnson 0 0 0

Tuttle 3 4 0 0 6 Hayden 0 1 0 0

Michaud 0 1 0 0

Woodcock 1 2 3

Robertson 0 1 0

Totals 18 35 6 17 43 18 45 6 12 47

Presque Isle 7 26 37 43

Bangor 12 21 35 47

3-pt. goals: Presque Isle (1-1): Blanchard 1-1; Bangor (5-7): Magee 3-4, Tower 1-1, Woodcock 1-2

Attendance: 400 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JV 80-29