Husson, Bates roll to today’s Bunyan final

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BANGOR – The winning teams made it look ridiculously easy in the opening round of the 40th annual Paul Bunyan Invitational Friday night, but they did it in different ways.

The host Husson College Eagles notched their first win of the season in convincing fashion by shooting out the lights from 3-point range in the second half. The end result was a 91-46 victory over winless University of Maine-Presque Isle at Newman Gymnasium.

In the early evening game, Bates College of Lewiston cranked up its transition game and raced past the young UMaine-Fort Kent Bengals 88-43.

Today’s consolation game will start at 1 p.m. Husson and Bates will tip off at 4 p.m.

In the late game, the Eagles had control of the game at the half with a 14-point lead, but they weren’t satisfied. The Bengals’ 1-3-1 zone defense was practically daring them to beat them with the 3-point shot.

“They really concentrated inside. We had a lot of open looks, even in the first half, but we weren’t hitting them as much,” said senior forward-center Buddy Leavitt, who sparked a 19-4 Husson run to end the first half with three 3-pointers.

The Eagles picked it up again a minute into the second half as they hit three more 3’s for an 11-0 run and four more in a game-clinching 18-4 run lasting two minutes.

“If someone’s going to zone us over 40 minutes, I think we’re going to make shots,” said head coach Warren Caruso, whose Eagles are now 1-4. “The thing was, we had the right guys taking 3’s even when we were missing early, so we felt it was just a matter of time before they started to drop.”

They dropped like bombs in the second half as Husson burned the nets with 50 percent (9-for-18) 3-point shooting.

If that wasn’t bad enough for UMPI, the Owls weren’t able to keep up offensively as they couldn’t handle Husson’s exhaustive fullcourt press and committed 31 turnovers.

“Turnovers have been our problem all year,” said coach Mike Carlos, whose Owls fall to 0-5. “We’re inexperienced and it shows, but they shot the ball really well from outside, too.

“I thought they hit eight in a row at one point. That’s what it felt like to me.”

Leavitt led the way with 17 points. The Guilford native hit six of nine shots and went 5-for-8 from 3-point range.

Junior guard Jason Harvey of Bucksport had 14 points, four assists and four of Husson’s 18 steals.

“Our press was the key today. It energized us on offense and defense,” Harvey said. “We used ball pressure to make them make bad decisions, which turned into bad turnovers.”

Bangor freshman Jordan Heath scored 11 while Scott Kissinger came off the bench for 10. Sheraud Lee made a game-high five steals and Bill Beauregard grabbed a game-high nine rebounds off the bench.

Freshman guard Brett Miles of Littleton led the Owls with 20 points and sophomore forward Jon Cooley scored 15.

In the first game, Bates’ dizzying transition game and fast break fueled a 17-0 run in a five-minute first-half span that proved too much for UMFK to overcome.

“They just took us out of what we wanted to do early. We’re very young and we make mistakes as it is, but once you let them get out like that, it’s tough to regroup,” said UMFK coach Eric Werntgen.

Matt Chudomel and Pat Halloran led a balanced Bates scoring attack with 14 points each.

The game was a homecoming of sorts for Bates junior point guard Zak Ray, who helped direct the 4-1 Bobcats’ attack.

“We look to fast break just about anytime we get a rebound or the opposition scores,” said former Bangor High star Ray. “If we don’t get the fast break, we like to go into a quick-hitter offense and we were able to do that effectively today.”

Ray had just three points, but contributed in other ways with eight rebounds, three steals, and two assists.

Bryan Wholey and Rob Stockwell scored 13 points apiece and John Lattimer added 10. Stockwell also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as his Bobcats outrebounded UMFK 49-25. They also committed just 13 turnovers to the Bengals’ 22.

In an otherwise non-exciting first half, the final seconds expired with plenty of it as UMFK scored what appeared to be an uncontested basket at the buzzer as Bates players, apparently convinced the half was over, started walking off the court. The clock showed 2.5 seconds left, but after a long huddle between the officials, the basket was disallowed and the players were told the half was over.

Sophomore swingman Edmundas Akstinas led the 2-5 Bengals with 11 points and six boards.

BOBCATS 88, BENGALS 43

UM-Fort Kent (2-5) Bates (4-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Allen 1 4 0 0 2 Ray 1 6 3

Kriunas 2 13 0 0 6 Wholey 4 11 13

B. Russo 2 6 1 1 6 Cahill 1 3 3

D. Russo 2 6 1 1 6 Chudomel 6 10 2 3 14

Parker 1 4 2 2 4 Stockwell 6 14 0 2 13

Bassue 0 2 1 2 1 Kothe 1 1 2

Meyers 1 2 1 2 4 Lattimer 4 10

Akstinas 3 9 4 5 11 Place 2 3 4

Bard 2 5 0 0 5 McGinn 0 0 0 0

Halloran 5 8 14

Taylor 3 3 0 6

Thayer 1 1 0 2

Begon 0 0 2 2

Westhuis 1 3 2

Totals 14 51 10 13 45 Totals 35 68 13 88

UM-Fort Kent 27 43

Bates 44 88

3-pt. goals – UM-Fort Kent (6-18): Akstinas 4-5, Parker 2-2, D. Russo 1-1, Bassue 1-2, Meyers 1-2; Bates (10-20): Halloran 4-5, Wholey 3-6, Cahill 1-2, Ray 1-3, Stockwell 1-3, Place 0-1

Attendance: 150 (est.)

EAGLES 91, OWLS 46

UM-Presque Isle (0-5) Husson (1-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Hodgdon 1 4 0 0 2 Heath 3 9 11

Miles 6 13 2 2 20 Lee 1 7 4

Sandoval 0 2 0 0 0 Harvey 5 9 14

Cooley 4 5 6 7 15 White 1 2 8

Kline 1 3 7 13 9 Leavitt 6 9 17

Robinson 0 1 0 0 0 Little 0 1 0

Ouellette 0 1 0 0 0 Figueroa 0 3

Montgomery 0 3 0 0 0 Berry 1 1 3

Adams 0 2 0 0 0 Kissinger 4 10

Wire 0 1 0 0 0 B. Beaurgrd 1 7 2

Muzzy 3 11 2 8

Kane 1 2 1 4

R. Beaurgrd 0 0 0

Philbrick 1 1 2

Jennings 0 0 0

Henry 2 2 1 5

Totals 12 35 15 22 46 Totals 29 68 18 26 91

UM-Presque Isle 24 46

Husson 38 91

3-pt. goals – UM-Presque Isle (7-15): Miles 6-10, Cooley 1-2, Sandoval 0-1, Ouellette 0-1, Wire 0-1; Husson (15-40): Leavitt 5-8, Harvey 3-5, Heath 3-9, Kissinger 2-2, Kane 1-1, Lee 1-5, Little 0-1, Figueroa 0-1, B. Beauregard 0-4, Muzzy 0-4

Attendance: 750 (est.)