BREWER – The Bangor High boys basketball team entered Tuesday night’s Class A matchup against rival Brewer with considerable advantages in size and experience.

The Rams used both commodities to remain undefeated with a 63-44 victory.

Bangor, which has an average victory margin of 19.3 points in its first four games of the season, made a concentrated effort to work the ball inside early in this contest, even to 6-foot-5 guard Jon McAllian, known more for his long-range shooting.

The University of Maine-bound McAllian scored twice in the game’s first 10 minutes while posting up smaller Brewer defenders, and also made a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter as Bangor never trailed after scoring the game’s first nine points.

“We just tried to use our advantages over them,” said McAllian, who scored 10 points to share team scoring honors with senior forward Tyler McDade and sophomore forward Nate Henigan. “We tried to get the ball to some of our bigger guys in the post, because that was an advantage for us.

“Tonight we ran some sets to get me down there and I got down there a lot. In other games we hadn’t really mixed it in, but we did it more tonight.”

The defending state champions – with 10 seniors on their roster compared to just two for Brewer – forced 18 turnovers from the Witches during the first half as Bangor took a 33-16 lead into intermission. Both teams substituted liberally throughout the second half.

McDade grabbed a team-high eight rebounds as Bangor finished with a 41-31 advantage on the boards. Henigan and senior frontcourt players Billy Zolper, Renaud Collard-Seguin and Sam Martin each had five rebounds.

Junior guard Coby Hutchins scored a game-high 11 points for 1-3 Brewer, with eight of his points coming in the fourth quarter. Junior forward Bill Bissell added eight points and seven rebounds and sophomore center Nate Carson grabbed nine rebounds.

Back-to-back inside baskets by McAllian and senior center Ryan Weston gave Bangor a 4-0 lead 80 seconds into the game.

Senior guard Christian Larochelle grabbed a defensive rebound and drove the length of the court for a layup, and McAllian went outside for a 3-pointer to extend the margin to 9-0 before Bissell broke the ice for Brewer on a tip-in with 3:32 left in the opening quarter.

After Bissell hit senior center Tyler Belote for a lane jumper, McAllian made his second 3-pointer and junior guard Ryan Larochelle scored from the baseline as Bangor extended its lead to 14-4.

Brewer senior swingman Ben Valley made 1 of 2 from the line, but Zolper then hit a free throw and later a jumper from the lane as Bangor scored nine unanswered points to extend its lead to 23-5 with six minutes left in the first half.

That run also included a post-up move by McAllian, a follow-up basket by McDade and a fast-break layup by Zolper off a McAllian assist.

Ernie Clark may be reached at eclark@bangordailynews.net or 990-8045.

RAMS 63, WITCHES 44

Bangor (4-0) Brewer (1-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

RLrochelle 1 4 0 2 2 T.Besstte 0 0

CLrochelle 1 1 0 0 2 O’Connell 1 2

Frazier 2 4 0 0 4 R.Besstte 2 6

McAllian 4 6 0 0 10 Drake 1 6 3

Zolper 2 5 1 7 5 Bissell 3 7 8

Edwards 0 3 1 2 1 Hutchins 4 13 1 2 11

Suvlu 2 5 0 0 4 Valley 2 5 5

Clrd-Sguin 0 5 0 0 0 Taylor 0 1 0

Hall 1 4 0 1 3 Murphy 1 2 0 3

McDade 4 8 2 3 10 Carson 2 3 4

Martin 4 6 0 0 8 Belote 1 1 2

Weston 1 4 2 2 4

Henigan 3 5 4 5 10

Cox 0 3 0 2 0

Totals 25 63 10 24 63 Totals 17 49 14 44

Bangor 17 33 53 63

Brewer 5 16 28 44

3-pt. goals – Bangor (3-6): McAllian 2-2, Hall 1-2, Zolper 0-1, Suvlu 0-1; Brewer (5-16): R. Bessette 2-5, Hutchins 2-6, Murphy 1-1, T. Bessette 0-1, Valley 0-1, Drake 0-2

JV: Bangor 63-42

Attendance: 500 (est.)