BANGOR – As they’ve forged their way to a 12-3 record this season, the Bangor Rams have done it primarily with defense and guard play.

Both factors were again, well… factors Friday night, but the Rams got some outstanding play from another area as well: the frontcourt.

“Our big guys played hard today and I think all of them made a contribution offensively or defensively,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed.

All three factors were well accounted for as the Rams took an impressive 74-57 victory over Nokomis of Newport at Red Barry Gym and avenged an early season loss to the Warriors.

Yes, the guards again led the way as Buddy Nickerson scored a game-high 21 points and Zak Ray added 15 plus six assists, but it was the forwards who also stepped up in a problematic area the Rams have been addressing all season.

“All year we’ve been emphasizing getting the inside-outside game going and get more touches inside, but we haven’t really been able to get it going at times,” said Rams senior Derrick Shain, who had perhaps his finest quarter of the season in the third.

Shain scored all seven of his points in the final three minutes of the third to help the Rams pull away and turn a six-point lead into 13 to start the fourth.

Shain teamed up with Robert Flynn (eight points, nine rebounds), Ben Guerette (six, five, two blocks), and Casey Civiello (eight, three) to help the Rams control the boards and outrebound the Warriors 29-13 on the defensive end and 48-30 overall.

“In past games, we’ve been outrebounded offensively and defensively and we just wanted to come out and be physical and rebound,” said Rams guard Chris Bombardier, who made his most important contribution on defense by guarding Trenton Estes and holding him to 13 points. “It was kind of messy at times, but I think we came out hard and did what we wanted to do and I think that helped us in the end.”

Even the guards got in on the act as Ray, Bombardier and Nickerson combined for 19 boards.

Bangor committed 17 turnovers to Nokomis’ eight, and even though the Warriors, now 11-4, had just one in the second half, it wasn’t enough to overcome foul trouble and sub-par shooting from the field (33 percent).

“I know Coach Reed didn’t want them taking some of those shots and our shot selection was poor,” said Warriors guard Ryan McLellan, who finished with a game-high 27 points. “We seemed to just come out and start bombing threes. Sometimes we get into more of a playground game and that’s what hurts us.”

Despite being frustrated by the turnovers, Reed maintained his sense of humor afterward.

“This is the most turnover-prone team I’ve ever had in my life,” he said while smiling. “We can’t even turn it over correctly, we’re so bad sometimes.”

Bangor made up for it in other areas, however, as the Rams shot 43.6 percent from the field and 75.9 percent from the line.

It also helped the Nokomis 6-foot-4 center Luke Hayden picked up two fouls in the first 96 seconds and Estes got his second 64 seconds later, with 5:20 left in the first.

“Their big guy got in foul trouble so they really went away from the inside game and taking perimeter shots while we got good looks inside,” Shain said.

Reed was particularly pleased with the defense played by Ray, Bombardier and Guerette on McLellan, Estes and Hayden.

RAMS 74, WARRIORS 57

Nokomis (11-4) Bangor (12-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

McLellan 9 22 5 8 27 Rambo 0 1 0

Estes 4 11 3 6 13 Achorn 1 4 3

Bradstreet 0 2 0 0 0 Ray 4 11 15

Ellis 1 5 1 2 3 Gallant 2 4 4

Veazie 0 2 0 0 0 Bombardier 0 2

Buzanoski 0 0 1 2 1 Nickerson 7 13 4 4 21

Horr 0 1 0 2 0 Civiello 3 4 8

Hayden 1 6 4 8 6 R.Flynn 3 6 8

Martin 2 3 0 0 5 Guerette 1 6

McLellan 0 0 0 0 0 Shain 3 5 7

Mullis 1 2 0 0 2

Totals 18 54 14 28 57 24 55 22 29 74

Nokomis 7 25 37 57

Bangor 17 27 50 74

3-pt. goals: Nokomis (7-18): McLellan 4-11, Estes 2-4, Martin 1-1, Veazie 0-2; Bangor (4-16): Nickerson 3-6, Achorn 1-1, Shain 0-1, Bombardier 0-2, Ray 0-6

Attendance: 750 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor 60-51