BANGOR – The Camden Hills Windjammers made it look easy, but Presque Isle had to sweat one out Friday afternoon as the Eastern Maine Class B boys basketball quarterfinals kicked off tournament action.

The third-seeded Windjammers ran away from No. 11 John Bapst of Bangor 73-38 in the opener and No. 2 Presque Isle edged No. 10 Medomak Valley of Waldoboro 56-51 at the Bangor Auditorium.

The 19-1 ‘Jammers take on the 17-3 Wildcats in a 2:05 p.m. Wednesday semifinal.

In the second game, what was a weakness in the first half for the Wildcats became a strength in the second as Presque Isle held off the upset-minded Panthers, thanks to foul shooting and rebounding down the stretch.

After hitting two of six shots from the line in the first half, the ‘Cats hit 15 of 18 in the second – including 10 of 12 in the last 96 seconds – to keep Medomak at bay.

“I’d say of all our games this year, this was our best team effort,” said PI coach Tim Prescott. “We made good plays at the right time and that was the whole reason we won today. The more important the situation, the better we executed.”

With the score tied at 40 and 7:03 left, the ‘Cats used a 6-0 run to take the lead for good, but Medomak made it a two-point game (46-44) with 3:22 to go. Nate Ackerson, a sophomore starting at point guard for injured starter Evan Richards, led the ‘Cats by hitting four straight foul shots to give PI a 50-44 lead with 1:14 left.

“He’s been a blessing for us. He does all the little things and does them right,” said PI senior forward Adam Kingsbury.

Ackerson hit nine of 10 from the line en route to 20 points. His effort, along with Kingsbury’s, was just enough.

“When you concentrate on one or two guys, someone else has to step up,” said MV coach Nick DiPatsy. “We concentrated on Kingsbury and Ackerson stepped up big.”

Kingsbury had 16 points, eight rebounds, and went 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter and 6-for-8 overall.

“Adam’s a throwback. He loves rebounding. If it’s up there in front of him, he’s going to come away with it,” Prescott said. “And when it was crunch time, I was glad to see him on the line for us.”

Junior guard Alex Gouldrup led 11-9 Medomak with 29 points. Alex MacKenzie had nine points and 11 rebounds.

In the first game, both teams had quick turnarounds after playing preliminary games less than 24 hours earlier.

The Windjammers hit their first 10 shots and wound up a sizzling 12-for-15 in the first quarter as they rolled out to a 27-8 lead against John Bapst’s 2-3 zone.

“They came out and took it to us right from the beginning, put us back on our heels and we were just never able to recover,” Crusaders coach Jason Mills said.

Camden Hills, which hadn’t played against a zone often this season, got a good look at it during Thursday night’s 82-71 prelim win against No. 14 Hermon.

That experience paid off as the ‘Jammers made 27 of their 50 field-goal attempts against Bapst.

“Hermon played zone and that kind of helped us here tonight,” Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart said. “I thought we really picked it apart.”

Dylan Smith went 4-for-5 from the floor for nine points in the first quarter.

Freshman Graham Safford led Camden Hills with 18 points. Kiefer Lammi chipped in with 14 points. Gordon Fischer had a game-high eight rebounds to go with eight points and four of the Windjammers’ 15 assists.

“That’s how we’ve always done it against a zone,” said Windjammer senior Christian Pieri, who finished with 10 points in the well-balanced offense. “We don’t care who scores, we just have to find the guy with the best shot and let him take it.”

Camden Hills maintained a 15-point lead in a foul-filled second quarter that slowed what had been a fast-paced game, then went on a 13-0 run in the third.

Fischer, Lammi and Smith helped keep Bapst’s big men at bay while Paul Campbell and Pieri pressured Bapst guard Kyle Gallant from getting the ball inside.

Ethan Cushman, a 6-foot-7 center, led the Crusaders with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks while 6-3 forward Charlie Merritt had seven points and four rebounds. The two combined for 11 field-goal attempts.

The two teams combined for 47 fouls in the game, but neither fared well from the line. John Bapst was 17-for-26, and Camden Hills was 15-for-30.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net

WILDCATS 56, PANTHERS 51

Medomak Valley (11-9) Presque Isle (17-3)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Benner 0 4 0 0 0 Ackerson 5 10 20

Merrifield 0 1 0 0 0 Gallant 3 8 6

Vannah 2 5 0 0 5 Kingsbury 1 2

MacKnzie 3 6 3 4 9 Cassidy 2 2 4

Wnchnbch 2 4 0 1 5 Mortland 1 3

Barnes 1 8 0 0 3 Kingsbury 5 12 6 8 16

Gouldrup 11 20 6 7 29 McLean 0 0 0

Giustra 0 2 0 0 0 Braley 2 2 5

Lee 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 50 9 12 51 Totals 19 46 17 24 56

Medomak Valley 11 22 35 51

Presque Isle 13 25 38 56

3-pt. goals – Medomak Valley (4-13): Winchenbach 1-1, Gouldrup 1-2, Vannah 1-3, Barnes 1-5, MacKenzie 0-1, Benner 0-1; Presque Isle (1-13): Ackerson 1-5, Kingsbury 0-1, Gallant 0-2, Mortland 0-5

WINDJAMMERS 73, CRUSADERS 38

John Bapst (10-10) Camden Hills (19-1)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Gallant 0 4 4 6 4 C. Pieri 4 10

Carr 0 1 0 0 0 Fischer 2 3 4 8

D. Smith 3 9 0 2 7 Cates 0 0 0

Wethrbee 0 0 1 2 1 Safford 6 10 18

N. Smith 1 3 2 2 4 Campbell 2 5

Bragdon 0 3 0 0 0 Weferling 0 0

Gagnon 1 4 0 0 2 Richards 0 0

Healey 1 5 1 2 3 Hart 0 1 1

Moriarty 0 0 0 0 0 Gartley 0 3 2

Sawyer 0 0 0 0 0 Lammi 6 8 14

Merritt 1 6 5 8 7 O.McFrld 0 0

Hass 0 0 0 0 0 Morgan 0 0 0 0

Cushman 3 5 4 4 10 Smith 4 6 9

K. Pieri 0 0 0

T.McFrld 3 5 6

Totals 10 40 17 26 38 Totals 27 50 15 30 73

John Bapst 8 20 28 38

Camden Hills 27 46 61 73

3-pt. goals – John Bapst (1-4): D. Smith 1-1, Carr 0-1, Bragdon 0-2; Camden Hills (4-10): Safford 2-4, C. Pieri 1-1, Smith 1-1, Hart 0-1, Lammi 0-1, Gartley 0-2