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BANGOR – The Mt. Blue boys basketball team didn’t travel to the Bangor Auditorium Friday night, as coach Jim Bessey said, to lose. The Cougars of Farmington came to win.
Mt. Blue didn’t come out of the Eastern Maine Class A semifinal with a victory, but it sure gave undefeated and heavy EM favorite Brunswick all it could handle.
The Dragons pulled away from Mt. Blue late thanks in part to Ralph Mims’ 5 for 7 free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter as they earned a 53-45 victory and a berth in tonight’s Eastern Maine Class A championship final.
Brunswick coach Todd Hanson said the EM title spot may be the basketball program’s first ever in a regional final. The Dragons, who are in their first season as an Eastern Maine team, will face the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between Cony of Augusta and Presque Isle.
Mims led Brunswick with 25 points, including 16 in the first half. Things were a bit tougher in the second half as the Cougars went to a diamond-and-1 with guard Chris Simpson shadowing Mims.
The Dragons had prepared in practice for either a triangle-and-2 or box-and-1 (Mt. Blue actually played both, as well as a 2-3 zone).
“We know teams are going to do that to try and contain me or [6-foot-5 center] Danny Hammond,” said Mims, a sophomore. “Coach just told us, we had to keep our heads on straight and maintain our focus. It bothered us because they tried to mess up the offense we try to run.”
Brunswick got through it just fine. The Dragons had a 10-point lead 1:25 into the third quarter and went into a stall offense eating up 21/2 minutes.
Brunswick was up 38-30 at the start of the fourth quarter and Nick Duffy made it a 10-point game when he scored in transition. But the Dragons struggled with turnovers and let the Cougars get right back into the game. After Mt. Blue’s Chris Blodgett put in a Foster Oakley pass to make it 40-32, Billy Russo scored five straight points for the Cougars – a layup, followed by a fast-break basket and a foul to complete a 3-point play – that made it 42-37.
Mims put in two free throws, but Brunswick still couldn’t shake Mt. Blue. The 6-4 Russo (21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter) put in a turnaround jumper to make it a 3-point game with 3:56 to go.
Mims took control, scoring on a fast-break layup and making two free throws.
“Mims had a great game offensively,” Bessey said.
Hammond had a quiet offensive game with six points, but had four assists, three rebounds and three blocks. Mims led the Dragons with six rebounds.
Russo scored twice more in the quarter, but baskets from Duffy and a driving basket from Mike Lobikis sealed it for the Dragons.
Oakley racked up nine assists and Russo had six rebounds for the Cougars, who managed to stay poised in the second half against the stall. The half got off to a bad start when Bessey didn’t have his team on the floor fast enough, so Hammond dunked an inbounds pass from Duffy.
“I thought we had good composure and a good idea of what we had to accomplish,” Bessey said. “… Obviously we showed we are a competitive team.”
DRAGONS 53, COUGARS 45
Mt. Blue (13-8) Brunswick (21-0)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Simpson 0 0 0 0 0 Mims 9 12 25
Wells 2 3 0 0 5 Lobikis 1 4 2
Oakley 1 9 0 0 3 Hammond 3 7 6
Powers 0 0 0 0 0 Duffy 3 4 6
Russo 8 12 5 7 21 Williams 0 0
Wasco 4 7 0 0 8 Pelletier 3 10
Blodgett 4 5 0 2 8 LaPrad 0 0 0
Caron 2 5 0 4
Totals 19 36 5 9 45 21 39 13 53
Mt. Blue 10 24 30 45
Brunswick 22 33 38 53
3-pt. goals: Mt. Blue (2-8) Oakley 1-6, Wells 1-1, Wasco 0-1; Brunswick (4-8) Mims 2-2, Pelletier 2-3, Hammond 0-2, Duffy 0-1
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