With snow falling and high winds, school was cancelled Monday in Presque Isle. Tim Prescott, the boys basketball coach at the high school, made his way into his office to put a close to the season.

The Wildcats lost to Brunswick Saturday in the Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals. On Monday Prescott did what he always does when the last game has been played. He put equipment away and wrote letters to his seniors, thanking them for their effort and for being a part of Presque Isle basketball.

His seniors had an exciting year. They qualified for the EM tourney with a prelim win over Mt. Blue of Farmington.

And in their next-to-last game of the regular season they earned the 200th win of Prescott’s coaching tenure at the school.

“It was a home win over Hampden Academy,” Prescott said.

Prescott is the co-dean of Eastern Maine Class A coaches. He and assistant coach Ralph Michaud have spent 18 years running the Presque Isle boys program. Mike McGee also has been at Lawrence since 1985-86.

That is one year longer than Roger Reed has spent as Bangor’s head coach and two years longer than Marty Clark at Old Town.

Prescott said that he hadn’t considered how many wins he’d had until the decision was made earlier in the school year to move to Class B for all sports in the 2003-04 school year.

“I probably would never have given it a second thought but when they made the decision to go to B, I thought I’d check into it,” Prescott said.

Another accomplishment came last week when the Wildcats beat Mt. Blue to earn a trip to the tourney in their final year as a Class A team.

“I think that everybody from the top down were hoping that both the boys and girls teams could make it to Bangor,” Prescott said. “I know my kids were. We were just ecstatic down at Mt. Blue to win and get to the Auditorium.”

Prescott said he hopes to keep as many of the Class A teams they currently play on their schedule next year.

Bangor’s Reed said that if his team is going to play a Class B team he would want it to be Presque Isle.

“They look like they’re going to have a nice team there next year,” Reed said. “I think [the 200 wins] is a great accomplishment. We’ve played a lot of games against each other. His kids are always well coached. They’ve always been classy.”

Clark said that Prescott is at the top of the list of coaches he’s competed against, with Reed and McGee.

“He makes adjustments during the game; makes adjustments from the first to the second time you play him. His teams are prepared so well,” McGee said.

And if Old Town is not part of Presque Isle’s schedule, Clark will miss coaching against his friend but won’t miss the bus ride to Aroostook County.

“I dread that trip like no other,” Clark said. “We’re 2-14 up there. I’ve got more wins at Bangor.”

Bangor boys overcome losses

The Bangor boys basketball team roared into the Class A tournament with a 17-1 record and as the second seed.

The Rams methodically broke Lawrence down in the quarterfinals, relying on a strategy that believes in defense first.

The team has kept its focus on the business in front it despite losing some teammates down the stretch who decided to leave the team for a variety of reasons.

“I have never gone through this before with kids,” Reed said.

Robert Flynn, Tyler Weymouth and Matt Cassidy have left the team.

Additionally, 6-foot-3 junior Kevin Flynn is slowly recovering from an injury he suffered in the Rams’ double-overtime win over Nokomis of Newport on Feb. 14.

The Rams have continued to stay focused. It doesn’t hurt to have the senior leadership of a player such as Zak Ray, a NEWS All-State second-teamer from a year ago.

Ray has had an excellent senior season. Ray usually takes on the opposition’s top scorer defensively and plays with a team-first philosophy offensively.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net