BANGOR – The Bangor Rams have devoted much of their early practice time this season to defense.

The practice is paying off.

Bangor limited cross-town rival John Bapst to four first-half points Tuesday night while earning a 57-18 Big East Class A schoolboy basketball victory at Red Barry Gymnasium.

The Rams (4-0) scored the game’s first 20 points before John Bapst broke through on a free throw by Tyler Yeo with 5:40 left in the first half.

By intermission, the Bangor lead was 27-4.

“We wanted to come out and play hard because we knew they would play hard,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “They beat us twice last year, so we weren’t taking anything for granted.

“We just got into the flow of things a little better than they did. I know they’re a better basketball team than that. I don’t think that’s typical of the way that they play.”

Senior forward Anthony DeRosa led Bangor’s offense with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.

He scored five points as Bangor built a 17-0 first-quarter lead, and set up the game’s highlight play with a fast-break bounce pass that junior forward Mark Socoby caught and slammed home with two hands to give the Rams a 15-0 lead with 1:32 left in the period.

Socoby, the transfer from reigning Class C state champion Houlton, finished with four points, five rebounds and four blocked shots in limited action.

The Rams also got six points each from senior guard Jordan Heath and sophomore guard Troy Jellison, with Jellison grabbing eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Alex Gallant added five points and a game-high nine rebounds, while junior forward Julien Collard-Seguin also scored five points.

Senior guard Zach Whited – who scored John Bapst’s first field goal on a baseline move with 1:31 left in the first half – and senior center Yeo each scored four points.

The Crusaders (1-3) made just 6 of 44 shots from the field.

The win leaves Bangor undefeated heading into a interesting midseason matchup against Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference power Oxford Hills at South Paris on Friday night.

The teams split two games last season, Oxford Hills winning a regular-season game at Bangor and the Rams whipping the Vikings 50-26 in the Eastern A semifinals.

Oxford Hills is now 3-1 this season after dropping a 61-47 decision at Brunswick on Tuesday night.

“I think we’ll find out how good we are Friday night,” said Reed.

“It will be a test for both of us. It’s a good, point-worthy game, and they obviously want to play well, especially at home, and I’m sure they want to play better than they did in the tournament game. We want to go down there and play well, too, so it should be a good matchup.”

RAMS 57, CRUSADERS 18

John Bapst (1-3) Bangor (4-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

G. Keefe 1 7 0 0 2 Heath 1 1 6

Snyder 0 3 1 2 1 Jellison 3 6

To. Carey 0 1 0 4 0 Francis 0 2 0

Whited 2 3 0 1 4 Aa. Gallant 2 4

Burnett 0 2 0 0 0 Leeman 0 3 0

Ferrill 1 7 0 0 2 Socoby 2 4 4

Tr. Carey 1 5 1 2 3 Barron 1 4 3

Waldron 0 2 0 0 0 Suvlu 1 3 3

T. Keefe 0 3 0 0 0 DeRosa 5 7 12

Yeo 1 7 2 4 4 Webb 0 1 0 0

Adams 0 1 0 0 0 Al. Gallant 2 5

Cushman 0 2 0 0 0 Mead 1 3 2

Jameson 0 0 2 2 2 Trundy 2 4 4

Chase 1 3 1 3

Cllrd-Seguin 1 4 5

Totals 6 44 6 15 18 Totals 22 55 10 15 57

John Bapst 0 4 10 18

Bangor 17 27 43 57

3-pt. goals – John Bapst (0-5): Ferrill 0-3, G. Keefe 0-1, T. Keefe 0-1; Bangor (3-9): Heath 1-1, Barron 1-1, DeRosa 1-2, Jellison 0-1, Aa. Gallant 0-1, Webb 0-1, Leeman 0-2

JV: Bangor 56-53 (2 OT)

Attendance: 650 (est.)