Defense puts GSA, PCHS into semifinal

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BANGOR – Piscataquis boys’ basketball coach Jamie Russell said going into the Eastern Maine Class C basketball tournament that he didn’t know what to expect of his team.

The seventh-seeded Pirates of Guilford never put a streak of any kind together, good or bad, during the regular season.

Tuesday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium, the good Pirates showed up and, led by Tyler Tracy’s solid defensive effort on the high-scoring Derek DiFrederico, pulled off the upset and beat No. 2Stearns of Millinocket 61-49.

The Pirates improved to 11-9 and move on to play third-seeded George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill Friday at 3:35 p.m. in the semifinal round. GSA knocked off the sixth seed Washington Academy of East Machias 56-41 during the morning session.

In the two previous meetings between PCHS and Stearns during the regular season, DiFrederico scored 17 and 24 points against the Pirates. Piscataquis’ design Tuesday was not to let the 5-foot-11 junior beat them and Russell gave the job to Tracy.

“I guarded him last year. This year we’re so much smaller, I stayed inside but he ripped us apart up at Stearns and down at home. Coach thought we’d try me on him and see how it worked,” Tracy said.

The 6-3 Tracy held DiFrederico to 13 points. They were a quiet 13 points. None of his points came on plays of the spectacular, team igniting plays DiFrederico is capable of.

Tracy also scored 15 points of his own, including 9-of-9 from the free throw line. He also played a vital role in helping to keep the Minutemen from getting second-chance baskets with seven rebounds.

Freshman Joe Jardine led the Pirates with 16 points. Jardine connected on 3-of-6 3-pointers. Point guard Harper Hoffman ran a tight ship. The Pirates turned the ball over just seven times. Hoffman also scored 14 points.

Kevin McLaughlin had 13 points and nine rebounds for Stearns while Ian Johnson added 10 points and had three blocked shots.

In the morning session, Matt Mattson’s George Stevens Academy boys put on a defensive clinic, hounding Washington Academy’s two star players – Jared Gray and Whitney Stevens – into a collective 8-for-26 effort in their win over Washington Academy.

The 18-2 Eagles never trailed in the game and their scrambling man-to-man defense made up for a chillier shooting performance than Mattson would have liked.

“[Coach says] we’re a defensive team and offense comes second,” senior swingman Nick Henry said. “We always work on team defense, so if you get beat, you’ve got a guy helping out.”

Henry, a 6-foot-3 slasher, led the offense with 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting. He also ripped down nine rebounds.

Duane Ledien added 10 points while Mark Clapp and Travis Templeton had eight apiece.

The Eagles focused on stopping Stevens and Gray by putting Ben Freedman and Clapp on them … and looking for plenty of help whenever each turned the corner and eye the hoop.

As a last line of defense, GSA has Templeton, a 6-6 senior who blocked just one shot but altered plenty of others.

Stevens tallied 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds for 12-8 Washington Academy while Gray scored 10.

Mattson was pleased with the defensive effort, which has become a GSA staple in his five years at the school.

“I’ve never, ever, once admitted that offensively we’re the prettiest team, but we seem to get it done defensively,” Mattson said.

In 19 games, three teams have scored more than 50 points against the Eagles. In the last 10 games – all GSA victories – teams are averaging less than 43 ppg.

GSA shot 20-for-47 (42.6 percent), but if you remove Henry’s 10-for-16 from the equation, the remaining Eagles connected at a cooler 32.3 percent clip.

Mattson is confident that will improve.

EAGLES 56, RAIDERS 41

Washington Acad. (12-8) George Stevens (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Je. Gray 0 1 0 0 0 Astbury 0 0 3

Harmon 4 7 0 0 8 Clapp 3 9 8

Mawhinney 2 4 0 0 4 Ledien 2 10 10

Ramsdell 2 5 0 2 4 Friend 0 0 0

Ja. Gray 4 16 0 0 10 Carter 0 0 0

Hostetter 0 1 0 0 0 Allen 0 0 0

Colbeth 0 1 0 0 0 Freedman 1 4

Sternberg 1 2 0 0 2 Henry 10 16 23

Stevens 4 10 4 9 13 Templeton 4 8

Merritt 0 0 0 0 0 Saunders 0 0

Look 0 0 0 0 0 Candage 0 0 0 0

Totals 17 47 4 11 41 Totals 20 47 12 15 56

Washington Acad. 4 15 24 41

George Stevens 6 21 37 56

3-pt. goals: Washington Acad. (3-13): Harmon 0-2, Ramsdell 0-1, Gray 2-8, Stevens 1-2; George Stevens (4-15): Clapp 2-7, Ledien 2-7, Freedman 0-1

PIRATES 61, MINUTEMEN 49

Piscataquis (11-9) Stearns (12-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hoffman 5 9 4 6 14 Leino 0 1 0

Prescott 0 3 1 2 1 Arsenault 2 4

Grrtt-Young 1 4 2 4 4 DiFrederico 4 14 4 5 13

Ry. Yeo 0 3 2 3 2 Moscone 1 1 2

Erickson 0 0 0 0 0 Barnett 1 6 2

Luellen 3 5 3 4 9 Johnson 5 7 10

Davis 0 0 0 0 0 McLaughlin 4 13 2 6 11

J. Tracy 0 0 0 0 0 Mat. LGssy 3 6

Ro. Yeo 0 1 0 0 0 Mar. LGssy 0 1

Jardine 6 11 1 1 16 Qualey 0 0 0

Wilson 0 0 0 0 0 Cyr 0 0 0

T. Tracy 3 5 9 9 15

Totals 18 41 22 29 61 20 53 15 49

Piscataquis 14 28 43 61

Stearns 15 23 37 49

3-pt. goals ? Piscataquis (3-7): Jardine 3-6, Prescott 0-1; Stearns (2-9): DiFrederico 1-5, McLaughlin 1-3, Leino 0-1