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Tim Prescott began the season hoping his Presque Isle boys basketball team could earn a home preliminary-round contest in Eastern Maine Class B.
It looks like the Wildcats won’t achieve that goal.
Instead, Presque Isle is in prime position to be the only Eastern B team to avoid the preliminary round altogether, as the Wildcats began the week ranked No. 1 in the division with a 15-2 record.
“At the beginning of the year I thought a good year for us, depending on how the younger kids came along, was somewhere in the 12- or 13-win area,” said Prescott, now in his 23rd year as Presque Isle’s head coach.
Presque Isle entered Tuesday night’s play 18 Heal points ahead of second-place Camden Hills of Rockport, the defending Eastern Maine Class B champion, and likely will clinch the top seed and lone preliminary-round bye in the division with a win in its regular-season finale against Old Town on Friday.
Presque Isle last was seeded No. 1 entering postseason play in 2002, when the Wildcats were still in Class A and playing in the state’s short-lived open tournament format.
Before that, Presque Isle’s last No. 1 finish came in 1978.
“There have been a lot of intangibles working for us this year,” said Prescott. “While we were struggling a little bit to find ourselves, we had a lot of games at home, and that helped us get through some of them.”
Another scheduling factor this year was that with the addition of four new Class B teams – Old Town, Central of Corinth, Gardiner and Erskine Academy of South China – teams have played some opponents just once this season rather than the typical home-and-home arrangement.
Camden Hills and No. 4 Maranacook of Readfield played just once this winter, for example, meaning that neither team could earn a sweep and the abundance of Heal points that would come with two victories in that rivalry.
Of the six Class B foes Presque Isle has played just once this season, five rank among the bottom six teams in the latest Heal point ratings, meaning the Wildcats had more pointworthy games than the rest of their Big East Conference brethren.
That strength of schedule is reflected in their status atop the division, and in the growing confidence of a fairly youthful squad.
Presque Isle is led by senior Adam Kingsbury, an undersized center at 6-foot-2 who has expanded his game this season to beyond the 3-point arc and teamed with junior forward Russ Mortland to form the Big East Conference’s top frontcourt tandem.
“Adam Kingsbury is pretty much our foundation,” said Prescott. “He’s been very confident all season, and that’s rubbed off on the rest of the kids.
“He’s also among top rebounders in the league, and he genuinely enjoys rebounding. He takes a lot of pride in rebounding and he never gives up on a rebound.”
Mortland, also 6-2, is more at home away from the basket but doesn’t mind working inside.
“He’s always been a gifted perimeter shooter,” said Prescott, “and he’s very athletic, maybe the most athletic kid I’ve ever coached.”
Mortland and Kingsbury are joined in the starting lineup by 6-4 senior Bennett Cassidy, 6-2 senior Nic Gallant and 6-0 sophomore Nate Ackerson.
Ackerson is one of three sophomores who have been thrust into extended duty in part due to injuries that have sidelined Evan Richards (foot) and Elizan McLean (shoulder).
But Ackerson and classmates Ethan Braley and Dillon Kingsbury have responded in such a way that the depth factor that may have been a question mark at the start of the season is now an asset.
“We knew those younger kids were going to contribute, it’s a strong class,” said Prescott. “But they were kind of forced into stepping up for us, and they really responded.”
Presque Isle hasn’t lost in more than a month and is riding a nine-game winning streak. That effort is highlighted by back-to-back victories last week against No. 3 Caribou and No. 5 Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln that found the Wildcats playing their most efficient offense of the season. Presque Isle committed just 12 turnovers against Caribou and just seven against MA.
“We’ve played good defense all season, but early in the year we were turning over the ball too much,” said Prescott. “Lately we’ve been doing a much better job of attacking the basket.”
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