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BANGOR – With a roster full of MVP candidates, one of the most unlikely – a player who alternated between JV and varsity this season – may have been the Most Valuable Pirate Friday night.
With top scorer Roy Burdin cooling off and Washington Academy of East Machias making a run at his Piscataquis of Guilford boys team, the Pirates were in need of a spark.
Enter sophomore guard Nolan Lovell, a little-used sub who played more JV minutes than varsity this season. After scoring one basket and grabbing one rebound in the first half, he saved his best for last.
Lovell had seven points, two rebounds and two huge steals in the fourth quarter to help the second-seeded Pirates hold off the No. 3 Raiders 57-52 in the Eastern Maine Class C semifinal at the Bangor Auditorium.
“He hasn’t played a lot of minutes this year, but he’s safe and secure, and he does a lot of good things,” said PCHS coach Jamie Russell. “He did a nice job defensively and he was a huge boost off the bench.”
A boost that propels the 19-1 Pirates into Saturday’s 8:45 p.m. regional title game against unbeaten top seed Calais.
Burdin was almost automatic for the Pirates, hitting seven of nine shots from the field and three of four shots from the line in the first three quarters, but he couldn’t buy a hoop – or a shot for that matter – in the final eight minutes.
So he got by with a little help from his friends, who cranked up Piscataquis’ defense. The Pirates’ blend of morphing zones (1-3-1 and 2-3) and man-to-man defensive pressure helped force nine WA turnovers in the fourth quarter and PCHS hit just enough free throws (11 of 24) in the fourth to survive.
“I don’t know what got into me,” said Burdin, who was 0-for-4 from the line in the final quarter, but still finished with a game-high 17 points. “I’ve never really shot well here.”
Burdin credited Lovell for helping the Pirates rebound. Lovell scored on a traditional three-point play on a drive to the high post with 3:54 left and then stole the ball from WA, scored on a layup and drew a foul with 2:27 to go.
“He was huge. That was awesome,” said Burdin. “He’s just a clutch performer who does everything when we need him.”
Senior guard Shane Tracy contributed 11 points in the Pirates’ balanced scoring attack, which resulted in a 46.2 percent shooting effort from the field overall.
Mike Von Rotz led the 13-6 Raiders with 12 points and Jeff Ramsdell had 10 points to go with six rebounds before fouling out with 4:46 to play. Just 77 seconds later, Raiders’ starting center Joey Hunter (eight points, seven rebounds) was called for his fifth in what became a war of attrition.
“That changed the game for us because we had to go small ball,” said WA coach Kenrick Liburd. “They called a lot of fouls and at first, it helped us, but later on it helped them.
“We had a couple calls go against us that really hurt, but we also had three or four steals down the stretch where we gave the ball right back to them, and those hurt us more.
In all, 30 fouls were called in the second half, 19 on WA. The Raiders outrebounded PCHS 25-23, but committed 22 turnovers to the Pirates’ 12.
PIRATES 57, RAIDERS 52
Washingtn Acad. (13-6) Piscataquis (19-1)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Leighton 3 8 0 0 9 Tracy 3 11 11
Teer 2 6 0 0 5 London 2 5 2 6
Wood 1 3 0 0 3 Russell 0 0 0 0
Von Rotz 3 4 6 7 12 Zimmrmn 0 0 0
Hunter 3 8 2 2 8 Martell 1 3 2
M.Smith 1 1 2 2 4 Je.Rbnsn 1 4
Colbeth 0 0 0 0 0 Wharff 1 6 6
Lehman 0 0 0 0 0 Ward 0 0 0
Ramsdell 4 4 1 2 10 Burdin 7 9 17
Porter 0 0 0 0 0 Billstone 0 2
Nicely 0 1 0 0 0 Lovell 3 3 9
Johnson 0 2 1 2 1 Ja.Rbnsn 0 0
Douglass 0 0 0
Totals 17 37 12 15 52 Totals 18 39 19 32 57
Washington Acad. 8 22 33 52
Piscataquis 8 22 40 57
3-pt. goals – Washington Academy (6-14): Leighton 3-6, Ramsdell 1-1, Teer 1-3, Wood 1-3, Johnson 0-1; Piscataquis (2-11): Tracy 1-5, Wharff 1-5, Ja. Robinson 0-1
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