Defense key as Rams upset Dragons

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BANGOR – In the end, the defending Class A state champs and previously undefeated Brunswick boys basketball team was left stunned.

Stunned at the defensive effort a much smaller Bangor lineup had delivered against the Dragons. Stunned at the play of a senior guard with a long memory. And stunned that a long and wonderful run had come to end.

But come to an end it did Saturday night at the Bangor Auditorium when the second-seeded Rams outhustled, outworked, outplayed, and upset the top-seeded Dragons 62-48 to win the Eastern Maine championship.

It was Brunswick’s only loss this season and ended the Dragons’ 44-game winning streak. The Dragons finished 20-1.

Bangor, also 20-1, will play Cheverus of Portland, an 87-55 winner over Edward Little of Auburn in the Western Maine title game, for the state championship Saturday night at 7:05 at the Bangor Auditorium.

It is Bangor’s seventh Eastern Maine title since Roger Reed took over the team for the 1985-86 season. Bangor will be seeking its sixth state championship under Reed.

If the Rams needed motivation beyond the fact that it was an Eastern Maine title game, they only had to go back to last year’s tournament when Brunswick hammered the Rams 81-49 in the quarterfinals.

Senior captain Zak Ray reminded his teammates of that game in the locker room prior to taking the floor.

“I asked them if they remember how it felt,” Ray said. “I remember. It didn’t feel good.”

With that memory serving as motivation, the Rams came out with one thing in mind – play a defensive style that would frustrate the explosive Dragons’ high-energy offense. And particularly frustrate 6-foot-3 junior Ralph Mims, who in his previous two tourney games this year had shown an ability to score almost at will.

“We focused on that a lot in our walk-through today,” Bangor senior Wesley Day said. “That’s what we really wanted to focus on. We knew we needed to keep them under 50 and that’s what we did tonight.”

The Rams held Mims to 11 points, after the NEWS All-Maine first-teamer of a year ago had scored 30 points against Presque Isle in the quarterfinals and 32 against Brewer in the semifinals. Brunswick won those games 80-49 and 71-50, respectively.

Bangor started with 5-11 sophomore Aaron Gallant marking Mims, and Gallant sent a message on the first possession. In the quarters and semis, the defenses had backed off Mims, afraid of his ability to go by defenders to the basket.

But instead of backing off, Gallant dove in and ripped the ball out of Mims’ hands. Although he was called for traveling after falling to the floor with the ball, Gallant had shown the Rams were not afraid.

Gallant later gave way to Day, who continued the Rams’ hard-nosed approach. Mims showed an ability to beat his defenders on occasion, but there was always another defender to step into Mims’ path. Mims finished the night shooting 4-of-22 from the floor.

“We played our game, tried our hardest to play our game. It didn’t work out the way we wanted it to work. But you know, we came a long ways,” Mims said.

The Rams also had heroes coming off the bench. Senior Kevin Flynn, who at 6-3 was the tallest Bangor player, had missed the quarterfinals and semifinals due to injury. He came off the bench Saturday to work against 6-6 Taylor Caron and responded by scoring seven points, while Caron had 11.

Bangor junior P.J. Dowe played his best game of the year, according to his coach. Dowe, junior Mike Prentiss, and sophomore Jordan Heath repeatedly stepped into Mims’ path or were in the rebounding mix. The Rams outrebounded Brunswick 23-17.

Offensively, the Rams shot 21-of-39 from the floor and were led by Ray. The senior’s 6-for-7 performance included a 3-pointer and three free throws after being fouled while shooting a 3-pointer during a 14-2 Bangor run to close out the third quarter. What had been a 32-30 Brunswick lead turned into a 44-34 Bangor lead at the end of that pivotal quarter.

“Zak Ray’s a Mr. Basketball finalist for a reason… When they needed a defensive stop, he got it,” Brunswick coach Todd Hanson said. “When they needed a steal, he got it. When they needed a big hoop, Zak was there.”

Ray finished with 18 points, five assists, five steals, and four rebounds.

“I’ve wanted this ever since we got killed last year,” Ray said. “And we came out and played as hard as we could and something great came out of it.”

Day finished with 13 points and a “monster” defensive effort, according to Ray. Gallant had 10 points and seven rebounds for the Rams.

Senior Nick Duffy had 12 points for the Dragons, six coming from converting offensive rebounds into points. Senior Drew Pelletier also had 12 points for Brunswick.

The Dragons made a run at the Rams in the fourth quarter and cut the Bangor lead to five at 53-48 on a Mims 3-pointer with 2:16 remaining. But Gallant followed with a basket on a drive to the hoop 13 seconds later and the Rams made 7-of-10 free throws in the last minute for the final score.

RAMS 62, DRAGONS 48

Bangor (20-1) Brunswick (20-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Heath 2 5 2 4 7 Alexander 1 2

Achorn 0 0 0 0 0 Mims 4 22 11

Ray 6 7 4 4 18 Duffy 5 6 2 12

Gallant 2 5 6 8 10 Williams 0 0

Dowe 1 2 1 3 3 Pelletier 5 10 12

Day 5 13 2 2 13 LaPrad 0 0 0 0

Derosa 0 0 0 0 0 Caron 5 5 11

Flynn 3 4 1 2 7

Prentiss 2 3 0 0 4

Totals 21 39 16 23 62 20 47 10 48

Bangor 14 23 44 62

Brunswick 8 24 34 48

3-pt. goals ? Bangor (4-10): Ray 2-3, Day 1-3, Heath 1-4; Brunswick (1-10): Mims 1-7, Alexander 0-1, Duffy 0-1, Pelletier 0-1