Cougars go inside to beat Warriors Blodgett’s 21 leads Mt. Blue to win

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ORONO – The Nokomis Warriors are accustomed to forcing their opponents deal with their speedy, guard-oriented team.

During Friday’s Eastern Maine Class A basketball quarterfinal, Mt. Blue dictated the style of play.

Senior center Chris Blodgett scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds as the Cougars used their size and strength in the post to earn a 61-48 victory at the Bangor Auditorium.

Third-seeded Mt. Blue of Farmington (13-7) meets the Brunswick-Bangor winner in a March 8 semifinal game at 7 p.m.

Nokomis of Newport, a No. 2 seed, wound up 15-5.

The 6-foot-4 Blodgett teamed up inside with Billy Russo, who scored his nine points in the second half, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots.

“That’s what we’ve been doing all year,” Blodgett said of Mt. Blue’s inside-oriented offense. “We’ve got two big guys, me and Billy, and we’re always going to have a mismatch.”

Mt. Blue outrebounded Nokomis 40-25 and shot 49 percent from the field. The Cougars were solid dealing with the Warriors’ full-court pressure and achieved enough scoring balance to get the win.

“That’s as close to a perfect game as I’ve seen played this year,” said Nokomis coach Jim DiFrederico, whose club struggled to 29 percent shooting (16-for-55) and was forced to play catch-up.

“We just didn’t work hard enough at denying flash cuts, blocking cuts,” DiFrederico said. “We knew they were going to go inside.”

Mt. Blue made its job easier by building a 20-7 lead. Blodgett and shooting guard Foster Oakley (14 points) scored seven points each during the first 81/2 minutes.

Nokomis played the first quarter without explosive guard Ryan McLellan, who was benched after receiving a technical foul in the Warriors’ prelim game.

Nokomis pressed hard the rest of the way and, in spite of forcing 20 Mt. Blue turnovers, couldn’t get closer than seven (26-19).

“The way we play favors the team if you’re ahead,” said Mt. Blue coach Jim Bessey. “When we play solid from start to finish, with the size that we have, if we can get in there, we’re pretty tough.”

Russo scored seven straight points, including three rebound hoops, to help Mt. Blue make it 35-19 three minutes into the second half. Nokomis never recovered.

Chris Simpson added seven points and guarded McLellan (17 points, four steals) in Mt. Blue’s diamond-and-one defense.

Luke Hayden led Nokomis with 17 points and nine rebounds.

COUGARS 61, WARRIORS 48

Mt. Blue boys (13-7) Nokomis (15-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Simpson 2 3 3 4 7 Estes 4 14 8

Russo 4 8 1 1 9 Ellis 0 3 0

Oakley 4 13 4 7 14 Hayden 3 10 11 13 17

Wasco 2 6 2 2 6 Veazie 1 5 3

Blodgett 7 9 7 8 21 Mullis 0 0 0

Wells 1 2 2 4 4 R. McLellan 7 20 1 5 17

Powers 0 0 0 0 0 Buzanoski 0 0

Allen 0 0 0 0 0 Gee 0 0 0

Gaither 0 0 0 0 0 Bradstreet 0 0

LaGrange 0 0 0 0 0 Horr 1 2 3

Flagg 0 0 0 0 0 Martin 0 0 0

Graves 0 0 0 0

J. McLellan 0 0 0

Totals 20 41 19 26 61 Totals 16 55 12 18 48

Mt. Blue 18 26 37 61

Nokomis 7 17 25 48

3-pt. goals ? Mt. Blue (2-6): Oakley 2-6; Nokomis (4-22): R. McLellan 2-7, Estes 0-8, Bradstreet 0-1, Veazie 1-5, Horr 1-1