Owls collect school’s first-ever tourney win Madawaska faces Dexter in semis

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BANGOR – First the Boston Red Sox ended an 86-year curse. Then the New England Patriots won their third Super Bowl title in four years. Wednesday, it was Madawaska High School’s turn to make sports history.

The fourth-seeded Madawaska boys ended a curse of their own when they defeated No. 5 George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill 56-47 in a Wednesday morning Eastern Maine Class C quarterfinal for the program’s – and the school’s – first-ever boys or girls basketball tournament victory.

“I don’t think this will sink in until later on, but it feels great,” said Miles Morneault, the Owls’ lone senior. “Our main goal was to get here and then our next one was to try to win. This is just unbelievable.”

The 16-3 Owls will return to the Bangor Auditorium and make the school’s first semifinal round appearance at 8:35 p.m. Friday against 17-2 top seed Dexter, a 62-43 winner over No. 9 Piscataquis of Guilford Wednesday.

The win also ended an eight-game tourney losing streak for the Owls, who hadn’t been to the Auditorium since 2000.

An 8-1 Owls scoring run that started three minutes into the third quarter gave them the lead (37-31) for good, but their fans would still have to sweat it out as the GSA Eagles closed the gap to two points in the final minutes.

Ironically, it was foul shooting – a glaring weakness for both teams in the first 291/2 minutes – that helped the Owls seal their historic victory. Madawaska, thanks largely to Morneault (6-for-9 from the line, game-high 14 points), hit seven of nine shots in the final two minutes. Meanwhile, Madawaska’s zone defense kept frustrating the Eagles, who managed just two baskets in the last 86 seconds.

“He’s a senior who’s exhibited great leadership all year and I would want nobody else but him on the foul line in crunch time,” said Madawaska coach Matt Rossignol.

Morneault, a 6-foot-2 guard, also had seven assists, six rebounds, and a steal.

Twin brothers Mark and Kenny Sirois, plus junior center Josh Pelletier, also turned in sparkling all-around efforts. Mark had 12 points, nine boards and three assists. Kenny had six points and eight boards. Pelletier had eight points, nine rebounds, three steals, an assist and a block.

Senior forward Tim Carter led 15-5 GSA with 12 points, five assists and three boards. Junior guard Blake Wessel also had 12.

In the second game, the Tigers pounced on Piscataquis early, never trailed, and never looked back, thanks to dogged rebounding, stifling man-to-man defensive pressure, and accurate shooting.

Dexter downed PCHS a third straight time by outrebounding the Pirates 27-20, outshooting them 49.1 to 45.7 percent from the floor, and forcing 15 turnovers while committing just nine itself.

Guard Eric Day led the way with 18 points. Fellow senior Chris Rabideau had 12 points and seven rebounds while junior Ryan Martin had 10 points. Matt Murray had eight points and five assists in Dexter’s multi-faceted attack.

“It’s basically whatever option’s open,” said Tigers coach Peter Murray. “We averaged 60 points a game, but we only have one player averaging double figures and that was just a little over 10 points a game. We have a different high scorer almost every night and that’s part of what made this a No. 1 team.”

Senior guard Ryan Yeo led 10-10 PCHS with 22 points, eight rebounds, two steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

OWLS 56, EAGLES 47

George Stevens (15-5) Madawaska (16-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Owens 3 6 1 3 8 A.Roy 0 1 0

Ensworth 0 0 0 0 0 Pelletier 4 8

Wessel 5 10 0 1 12 M.Sirois 5 12

Carter 4 17 0 0 12 Campbell 2 7

Gray 2 8 1 4 5 Morneault 4 10 14

Henry 2 6 0 1 4 K.Sirois 3 6

Bridges 3 5 0 0 6 Beaulieu 3 10 2 3 9

Totals 19 52 2 9 47 21 50 13 21 56

George Stevens 17 28 35 47

Madawaska 15 29 39 56

3-pt. goals – GSA (7-25): Carter 4-13, Wessel 2-6, Owens 1-2; Madawaska (1-14): Beaulieu 1-6, A. Roy 0-1, K. Sirois 0-1, Morneault 0-3, Campbell 0-3

TIGERS 62, PIRATES 43

Piscataquis (10-10) Dexter (17-2)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Clukey 0 0 0 0 0 A.Woodman 0 0

Wharff 1 8 0 0 3 Lavin 0 0 0

Pakinkin 1 2 0 0 2 Pierce 1 1 2

Yeo 8 15 6 9 22 Day 7 11 2 18

Je.Robinson 2 4 0 1 4 Murray 2 9 8

Zimmerman 0 0 0 0 0 Pullen 3 5 6

Tracy 1 2 0 0 2 Bowers 0 2 0

Harmon 1 1 2 2 5 Rabideau 6 11 0 0 12

Burdin 2 3 1 4 5 B.Woodman 0 0

Coldwell 0 0 0 2 0 Sylvester 1 2

Martell 0 0 0 0 0 Martin 5 10 10

Ja.Robinson 0 0 0 0 0 McCarthy 2 4

Totals 16 35 9 18 43 27 55 62

Piscataquis 7 14 27 43

Dexter 12 23 42 62

3-pt. goals – PCHS (2-8): Harmon 1-1, Wharff 1-4, Yeo 0-3; Dexter (4-10): Day 2-3, Murray 2-4, Bowers 0-1, Martin 0-2