November 23, 2024
SCHOOLBOY BASKETBALL

Familiar ‘B’ foes to battle; Patriots to defend in ‘D’

A pair of teams that are very familiar with each other will meet Saturday in the Eastern Maine Class B boys tournament championship game at Bangor Auditorium beginning at approximately 4 p.m.

Erskine Academy of South China and Winslow have played each other twice during the regular season, splitting the games.

Second-seeded Erskine features a guard-oriented attack. The 17-3 Eagles are led by junior guard Matt Donar who had 21 points in the quarterfinals and 11 in their semifinal win over Foxcroft Academy. Senior point guard Kenny Demuth can score and find the open man. But when Donar and Demuth struggled in the semifinals, 6-foot-4 sophomore Josh Jones stepped forward with 23 points and dominated a bigger defender.

Fifth-seeded Winslow has a balanced attack that features 1,000-point career scorer Micah Grant. The 16-4 Black Raiders can also rely on 6-5 senior Nate Boutin for points and sophomore guard Eric Lopez to create havoc defensively.

The D championship game pits top-seeded East Grand of Danforth against seventh-seeded Bangor Christian. The game will tip off at approximately 11 a.m. on Saturday.

East Grand brings a 19-2 record into the game and is led by junior point guard Darius Parker who scored 37 points in the Vikings semifinal win over Woodland and 17 points in the quarterfinals.

The Vikings will be forced to contend with a tall front line for the 17-4 Patriots. Bangor Christian starting forwards stand 6-3 and 6-4 while point guard Greg Patterson is 6-4. Guard Josh Madden, who scored 22 points in Bangor Christian’s semifinal win over Central Aroostook of Mars Hill and 24 points in the quarterfinals, leads the Patriots.

The Class C championship game features high-scoring Travis Patterson and the Dexter Tigers taking on defensive minded George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill at about 9 p.m.

Patterson and the fourth-seeded Tigers soundly defeated Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln 77-49 in the quarterfinals and followed that with a 66-32 win over top-seeded Penquis Valley of Milo in the semifinals.

Patterson scored 31 points, including his 1,500th career point, in the quarterfinals and had 22 points in the win over Penquis.

Third-seeded George Stevens will rely on a team defense concept that forces teams away from the basket.

Offensively, guards Mike Astbury and Mark Clapp led the Eagles in their semifinal win over Piscataquis of Guilford when the Pirates chose to stop GSA forward Nick Henry at all costs.

Henry had 23 points in the Eagles’ quarterfinal win over Washington Academy of East Machias.


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