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BANGOR – Two of the hottest boys basketball teams in Eastern Maine Class A met at Red Barry Gymnasium on Tuesday night, and both Bangor and Brewer were hot shots for a half.
But inevitably the defenses took control, and Bangor earned a 49-45 victory that ended the Witches’ eight-game winning streak and moved the Rams closer to having home-court advantage when Class A preliminary-round play is held on Feb. 25.
“I knew this game was going to be down in the 40s tonight because basically neither one of us was going to give up too many easy shots,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, whose 10-5 Rams scored their third win of the season over Brewer and won for the ninth time in their last 10 games overall.
That didn’t appear to be the case at halftime, as Bangor built a 30-26 lead on 6-of-10 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc and a combined 14 points off the bench from senior forward P.J. Dowe and junior guard Anthony DeRosa.
But the two best defensive teams in the Big East Conference – Bangor first at 44.6 points per game allowed, Brewer second at 48.3 ppg – lived up to that status after the break.
“The second half was more like a chess match than the first half,” Reed said. “The tendency is that you play the same, but everybody plays a little harder and the shots come a little harder.”
Brewer (10-6) twice pulled within two points, but each time Bangor responded with a modest run that was magnified by the paucity of second-half points.
The Witches’ Isaac Bell scored the first basket of the second half to pull his team within 30-28, but Bangor’s Mike Prentiss made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line after grabbing an offensive rebound, and Aaron Gallant hit a 3-pointer to extend the Rams’ lead to 34-28.
A 3-pointer by Brewer sophomore Chris Wilson cut Bangor’s lead to 38-36 by the end of the quarter, but again the Rams responded, this time with Gallant driving the lane for a basket and Chad Astle following in his own miss with 4:53 left in the game to push the margin back to six points.
Brewer didn’t even get off a shot for the first 3:36 of the final period and got no closer than four points the rest of the way, the last time on a 3-pointer by Bell with 14 seconds left.
“In the second half we needed to slow it down and make sure we got good shots every single time,” said Bangor point guard Jordan Heath. When you’re throwing up 3s and they go in like we did in the first half, it’s good. But when you don’t make them that’s when the other team’s going to make a run, so we had to make sure we got a good shot every single time.”
Gallant led Bangor offensively with 12 points while limiting Brewer guard Andy Frost to seven points, none after intermission. Dowe finished with 10 points, while Prentiss grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
Wilson paced Brewer with 15 points, while Bell scored 10.
“The score was close, but I don’t think we performed the way we needed to perform tonight,” said Brewer coach Mark Reed, whose club also is in line for a preliminary-round home game. “We didn’t respond to the physical nature of the game, and when things got tough, I don’t think we responded the way we needed to. If we’re going to get ourselves into a tournament situation, we’ve got to be a little bit tougher. It’s an individual accountability thing. You’ve got to be a little tougher on yourself, challenge yourself a little more and respond to tough situations like that.
“We need to go back to work and find a way to do that.”
RAMS 49, WITCHES 45
Brewer (10-6) Bangor (10-5)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Wilson 5 11 3 3 15 Heath 2 5 8
Bell 4 6 0 0 10 Aa. Gallant 5 11 12
Frost 3 10 0 0 7 Dowe 4 6 10
Francis 4 8 0 0 8 Astle 3 9 7
Miller 2 6 1 1 5 Prentiss 2 6
MacDonald 0 0 0 0 0 DeRosa 2 5 6
Anderson 0 0 0
Trundy 0 1 0 0
Totals 18 41 4 4 45 18 43 12 49
Brewer 14 26 36 45
Bangor 15 30 38 49
3-pt. goals ? Brewer (5-12): Bell 2-3, Wilson 2-4, Frost 1-4, Miller 0-1; Bangor (7-16): Aa. Gallant 2-3, Heath 2-4, DeRosa 2-4, Astle 1-5
Attendance: 800 (est.)
JV: Bangor 69-56
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