Young Raiders to meet PCHS in Friday semi Freshman spark WA; Wharff leads Pirates

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BANGOR – Washington Academy showed a glimpse of its basketball future Tuesday – and that future is now.

Freshman guards Ben Teer and Josh Johnson sparked a decisive fourth-quarter run and junior center Joey Hunter controlled the inside late in the game as the third-ranked Raiders outlasted No. 6 Fort Kent 74-65 in an Eastern Maine Class C boys quarterfinal at the Bangor Auditorium.

The win advances WA to a semifinal at 7:05 p.m. Friday against No. 2 Piscataquis of Guilford. PCHS topped Dexter 54-33 in the second afternoon game.

WA was in catch-up mode for much of its game, as Fort Kent shot 67 percent (14 of 21) in the first half and built as much as a 10-point lead.

The Raiders picked up their defensive intensity after intermission and finally took the lead for good with 6:05 left when Johnson drove the lane for a three-point play to give WA a 56-53 edge.

After Fort Kent’s Derek Bonenfant countered with a drive, Johnson fed Hunter in the low post for an uncontested layup, prompting the Warriors to return sophomore center Jason Lesaldo and sophomore guard Matthew Harvey to the floor, each with four fouls.

That buttressed Fort Kent’s interior defense, so the Raiders went outside. Teer hit two 3-pointers within a 35-second span, and Mike Von Rotz followed with a transition jumper off a Johnson feed to give the Raiders a 66-59 with 3 minutes left.

“When you talk about the top freshmen in the state I think Ben should be in that conversation,” said WA coach Kenrick Liburd. “Not a lot of people know about him because he plays in the Downeast [Athletic Conference], but I think he proved again here like he has numerous times this year that he can play, he can get it done.”

Fort Kent got within 66-63 on four Lesaldo free throws, but WA then ran off eight unanswered points, six by Hunter, to put the game away.

Hunter finished with 20 points, 14 in the second half.

“I wanted the ball,” said Hunter. “Sometimes there was a mismatch, and sometimes there wasn’t, so I had to try to take advantage of it when I could.”

Lesaldo led 7-13 Fort Kent with 16 points and six rebounds, while Samuel Bard scored 15 points and Thomas Caron added 12.

WA took a quick 10-4 lead, but Fort Kent didn’t get flustered – the Warriors instead shot the lights out.

Fort Kent made its first seven shots, and Bard and Caron combined to make 10 of 13 in the first two periods as the Warriors built a 10-point lead on two occasions, the last time at 36-26 on a Matt Pelletier jumper with 55 seconds left in the half.

But Fort Kent was beset by foul trouble, as Lesaldo, Harvey and Bard each drew his third. Warriors’ coach Tim Farrar had little choice but to sit that trio down late in the half, and WA took advantage.

In particular, senior guard Chris Wood gave the Raiders a huge dose of hope, making two free throws after Bard picked up his third foul with 30 seconds left, then burying a 3-pointer from the right corner with four seconds left.

WA suddenly was within 36-31, and a reservoir of Fort Kent momentum suddenly had been drained.

“We played so well,” said Farrar, “and to be up only five was tough because we knew they could score in bunches,” said Farrar.

In the second game, Mike Wharff and his Pirates both started slowly, but finished with a flourish. Wharff shot 53.8 percent from the field and led all scorers with 21 points – 16 in the second half – after starting out hitting just two of his first seven shots.

“I’m pretty streaky, but when I get on a hot streak, it’s going pretty good,” the senior guard said with a grin.

The Pirates shot 4-for-13 in the first quarter, but still managed to come out of it tied 9-9. The steady inside play of Roy Burdin (11 points, seven rebounds) pushed them ahead, but it was Wharff’s shooting and switch to a 1-3-1 zone defense in the second half that put the game away.

“We talked about the fact we didn’t think we could play any worse than we did in the first quarter, but Dexter’s defense had a lot to do sith it,” said PCHS coach Jamie Russell. “We haven’t played the 1-3-1 a lot. We worked a lot on it in practice yesterday and saved it for the second half, and I think it really bothered them.”

The Pirates finished the third quarter with a 14-3 run to take a 41-25 lead and scored 13 of the game’s final 17 points.

Shane Tracy contributed 14 points, four rebounds and three assists to the Pirates’ cause.

Aaron Woodman led the 13-7 Tigers with nine points.

“We’ve been doing it with mirrors, scoring-wise, this year so if the game gets into the 50’s or higher, that’s not our game,” said Dexter coach Peter Murray. “We knew we couldn’t let them get ahead with a significant lead.

“Their dribble penetration hurt us in the first half and it wasn’t just one guy for them. It was about five.”

Piscataquis, which swept the regular season series against Dexter, outshot the Tigers 45.7 percent to 37.5 and committed 12 turnovers to Dexter’s 16.

“We had to shut them down on defense,” said Burdin. “That was key because we knew our scoring would come.”

RAIDERS 74, WARRIORS 65

Fort Kent (7-13) Wash. Acad. (13-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Bonenfant 2 3 0 1 4 Leighton 1 4

Voisine 3 7 2 2 8 Teer 4 8 11

Blier 0 2 0 0 0 Wood 2 3 7

S.Bouchrd 0 0 0 0 0 Von Rotz 6 12 0 1 12

Pelletier 2 2 0 0 4 Hunter 9 12 20

Potvin 0 0 0 0 0 M. Smith 0 0

Lesaldo 6 9 4 7 16 Ramsdell 4 9

Harvey 3 4 0 0 6 Porter 0 1 0

Caron 4 7 4 5 12 Johnson 3 6 11

Bard 7 19 0 0 15

Soucy 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 27 53 10 15 65 Totals 29 54 11 14 74

Fort Kent 16 36 48 65

Washington Acad. 16 31 48 74

3-pt. goals – Fort Kent (1-11): Bard 1-6, Bonenfant 0-1, Caron 0-1, Harvey 0-1, Blier 0-2; Washington Academy (5-12): Teer 3-5, Wood 1-1, Ramsdell 1-2, Leighton 0-1, Porter 0-1, Johnson 0-2

PIRATES 54, TIGERS 33

Dexter boys (13-7) Piscataquis (18-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

A.Wdman 4 9 0 0 9 Tracy 5 11 14

E.Wdman 0 2 0 0 0 London 0 5 0

Spizucco 0 0 0 0 0 Russell 0 0 0

Beatham 2 11 0 0 5 Zmmrmn 0 2 0

Leal 2 4 0 0 5 Martell 0 0 0 0

Robinson 4 7 0 2 8 Je.Rbnsn 3 6

Mountain 0 0 0 0 0 Wharff 7 13 21

Cangelosi 0 0 0 0 0 Schufelt 0 0

Jewett 0 0 0 0 0 Ward 0 0 0

Eastman 0 0 0 0 0 Burdin 5 8 11

Lary 1 1 0 0 2 Bilstone 0 1 0

Clark 0 1 0 0 0 Lovell 0 0 0

Cote 2 5 0 0 4 Cleaves 1 2 0 2

Ja.Rbnsn 0 0 0

Douglass 0 0 0

Totals 15 40 0 2 33 Totals 21 47 54

Dexter 9 18 25 33

Piscataquis 9 25 41 54

3-pt. goals – Dexter (3-11): Leal 1-1, A. Woodman 1-3, Beatham 1-6, E. Woodman 0-1; Piscataquis (7-15): Wharff 5-10, Tracy 2-4, Burdin 0-1