BANGOR – The Brewer Witches put forth an inspired effort during the first half of Thursday night’s Class A boys basketball game at Red Barry Gymnasium.

Then the inevitable happened, as Jon McAllian scored 11 of his game-high 20 points consecutively during a three-minute stretch of the third quarter as undefeated Bangor rallied from a one-point halftime deficit to earn a 54-35 Senior Night victory.

The win improved the top-ranked Rams to 17-0 this season and was the 27th straight victory overall for coach Roger Reed’s club, which last lost on Jan. 20, 2007, at Mt. Blue of Farmington. The defending state champions will visit Mt. Blue tonight in an effort to cap off the program’s first undefeated regular season since 1995.

Brewer, which finished its season at 6-12 after a 2-10 start, used offensive patience and a 1-2-2 zone defense to frustrate Bangor in the first half. Coach Mark Reed’s Witches used a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter as the fuel to take a 21-20 halftime lead over his father’s team.

“Any team can beat you if they have a good night and you don’t,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, who was honored during pregame ceremonies for earning his 500th career victory last Saturday. “Mark’s team started off very patient and we got chasing a little bit and they got open shots and hit them.”

Bangor came out after intermission with a renewed emphasis on attacking the interior of Brewer’s zone, and that plan resulted in open looks for both McAllian and backcourt mate Lee Suvlu, who combined for all of Bangor’s points in the third period as the Rams outscored the Witches 17-5 to take a 37-26 lead.

“In the first half, [Bangor center Ryan] Weston was taken away from us and that’s usually our primary inside source,” said McAllian. “In the second half we just tried to work it around and get him shots, but it worked out that I got the ball for wide-open shots and I ended up hitting them.”

After Suvlu opened the third quarter with a jumper to give Bangor the lead, McAllian took over the game.

The 6-foot-6 senior hit a jumper off a feed from Adam Bernstein, then followed up a Bernstein blocked shot with a fast break layup before adding two free throws after making a steal.

McAllian then hit a 3-pointer off another Bernstein assist to extend Bangor’s lead to 31-21 before capping off his personal 11-0 blitz on a baseline jumper with just over four minutes left in the period.

“We had to go inside-out as opposed to launching 3’s around the perimeter, which we had done in the first half,” said Roger Reed. “We had to get inside touches to collapse the zone, because we could get better shots once we got it inside.

“When Jon was getting the ball out there on kick-outs, he was planted and ready to shoot.”

Brewer did rally to within 37-29 on a 3-point goal by Dom Drake 48 seconds into the fourth quarter, but McAllian countered with a 3-pointer of his own to ignite another 11-0 run that put the game away. Weston scored after grabbing an offensive rebound, and Billy Zolper followed with a baseline jumper and a follow-up shot before Ryan Larochelle concluded the run with a steal and layup that gave Bangor a 48-29 cushion with 4:15 left.

“I thought the difference in the second half was obviously that they made some shots and we were worn down a little bit just dealing with their size and strength,” said Mark Reed. “Our energy and our effort getting to shooters in the latter stretches of the third and the beginning of the fourth was a fatigue factor more than anything.”

Zolper finished with 10 points for Bangor, while Weston grabbed seven rebounds and Ian Edwards added five rebounds.

Billy Bissell led Brewer with nine points, while Nate Carson had five blocked shots.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

990-8045

RAMS 54, WITCHES 35

Brewer (6-12) Bangor (17-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

T. Bessette 0 2 0 0 0 R.Lrchelle 1 2

O’Connell 2 9 0 0 6 Frazier 0 2 0

R. Bessette 1 3 0 0 2 C.Lrchelle 0 0

Drake 2 3 1 2 6 McAllian 8 12 2 2 20

Bissell 4 7 1 2 9 Zolper 3 11 10

Meeker 1 1 0 0 2 Edwards 1 5 2

Hutchins 1 8 1 2 4 Cox 1 2 2

Murphy 0 1 0 0 0 Suvlu 3 7 6

Carson 3 7 0 0 6 Bernstein 2 4

Clrd-Segn 1 6 2

Hall 0 0 0 0

McDade 0 2 0 0

Martin 0 0 0 0

Weston 3 9 0 6

Henigan 0 2 0 0

Totals 14 41 3 6 35 Totals 23 63 54

Brewer 10 21 26 35

Bangor 8 20 37 54

3-pt. goals – Brewer (4-16): O’Connell 2-5, Drake 1-1, Hutchins 1-6, T. Bessette 0-1, R. Bessette 0-1, Bissell 0-2; Bangor (2-15): McAllian 2-6,.Zolper 0-1, Edwards 0-1, Frazier 0-1, Suvlu 0-3, Collard-Seguin 0-3

JV: Bangor 56-49

Attendance: 600 (est.)