But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
BANGOR – With his boys poised to play at the Bangor Auditorium for the first time Saturday night, Woodland coach Troy Cilley wanted to make the Eastern Maine basketball tournament experience easier.
He figured if the Dragons came out in a zone defense, they might play more under control and get off to a good start.
The stingy 2-3 zone helped sixth-seeded Woodland build a big early lead on its way to a 56-41 Class D quarterfinal victory over Easton.
“We tried to stay pretty relaxed through the whole game,” said junior guard Ben Sears, who led the winners with 20 points, eight rebounds and three steals. “The first time out there was pretty jittery, but we got over it.”
The Dragons (14-6) advance to play No. 2 Deer Isle-Stonington (18-2), a 63-33 winner Saturday over No. 7 Shead of Eastport, in Thursday’s 2:05 p.m. semifinal.
Woodland limited No. 6 Easton (15-5) to 12 first-half points and played cohesive offense while building a 22-8 advantage.
“We got a little bit of a lead, and against our zone it seemed to be taking them a long time to make anything develop,” Cilley said, “so with the lead we thought we’d just stay in it.”
Woodland seized control with a 12-3 second-quarter run fueled by a handful of steals. Chad James and Eddie Flaherty scored four points each as the Dragons built a 14-point lead.
Woodland shut off most penetration and dominated the rebounding action, getting numerous second chances.
The Bears rallied in the second half, getting within five (30-25), but the Dragons sealed the win from the foul line (23 for 34).
“We went down fighting,” said Easton coach Travis Carter. “We’ve been a rally team all year, we just didn’t finish the way we wanted tonight.”
James tallied 16 points, 12 from the foul line, and grabbed six rebounds for Woodland. Aaron St. Pierre added six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Jeremy Brock sparked Easton with 16 points, while Brad Trask scored 12. Nathan Sanders contributed eight rebounds, four assists and two steals while Sam Bacon posted seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
In the second game, Collin Ciomei (26 points) and Eben Powers (21) put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter.
Ciomei put in 13 points and Powers added 10 as the Mariners outscored the Tigers 29-13 in the final period. Shead, which was facing a 14-point deficit at the end of the third quarter, had six turnovers in the fourth.
“I think they ran out of juice when we were still 100 percent, and that turned out to be the fourth quarter,” Ciomei said.
The Tigers started out in a 3-2 zone, but had to come out of it when DI-S got off to a quick lead in the first quarter. Shead went back to the zone again in the second half but again had to go to man.
“With their lead, that brings us out of our strength, which is the 3-2 zone, and probably plays into their hands with their athleticism,” said Shead coach Dean Preston, who led the Shead girls to the 1999 Class D state title. “… We had some turnovers and that gave them a little bit of quick offense.”
Ciomei had a relatively quiet first half, going 2-for-8 from 3-point range en route to eight points. He had both 3-pointers in the first quarter.
The 6-foot-4 senior, who is the only returning starter from last year’s Class D state championship team, didn’t take another 3-point attempt after halftime. Instead, he went 7-for-10 on mostly layups as he and Powers passed the ball in the post.
“We were trying to take a little pressure off the guards because they’re all new,” Ciomei said. “We thought [Shead would] think we wanted to play the outside shot. We switched it up halfway through, and that’s where we started to pull away.”
The Mariners’ 2-3 zone did have trouble shutting down Shead’s inside game. Center Dana Mitchell, a 6-5 senior, led the Tigers with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Wayne Clossey scored 10 and had nine rebounds.
“We were trying to keep their big guys off the boards, but we weren’t too successful,” said Ciomei, who had 12 rebounds.
The Shead boys were making their first appearance at the Auditorium in at least 10 years, Preston said.
bdnsports@bangordailynews.net
990-8275
DRAGONS 56, BEARS 41
Woodland (14-6) Easton (15-5)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
St. Pierre 0 5 2 4 2 Trask 3 15 12
James 2 10 12 15 16 S. Bacon 2 5
Boomer 0 2 0 0 0 Sanders 2 8 4
Sears 7 14 6 9 20 Brock 7 10 16
Brown 2 2 0 0 4 N.Flewlng 2 4
Flaherty 1 3 2 4 4 Daniels 0 2 0
Curtis 3 8 0 0 6 Fuller 0 0 0
Townsend 1 1 1 2 4 White 0 0 0
Pike 0 0 0 0 0
Perry 0 0 0 0 0
Wormell 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 16 45 23 34 56 Totals 16 46 12 41
Easton 3 12 25 41
Woodland 10 22 33 56
3-pt. goals – Woodland (1-11): Curtis 0-2, St. Pierre 0-3, James 0-3, Boomer 0-1, Sears 0-1, Townsend 1-1; Easton (3-10): Trask 3-10
MARINERS 63, TIGERS 33
Shead (12-8) DI-Stonington (18-2)
Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP
Barnes 0 1 0 0 0 E.Powers 8 21
Ricker 1 3 0 0 2 Pinkham 0 0 1
Lewey 1 8 0 0 3 Ciomei 9 19 26
Vinson 0 0 0 2 0 Boutilier 1 3
Pottle 0 13 0 1 0 Rollins 3 5 7
T. Mitchell 0 1 0 0 0 Boyce 0 1 0
Clossey 4 7 2 6 10 Carter 1 6 2
Bowen 0 0 0 0 0 Mitchell 0 1
Andrews 0 0 0 0 0 Bruce 0 0 0
Sullivan 0 2 0 0 0 Eaton 0 0 0
D. Mitchell 8 13 2 3 18 D.Powers 1 2
Garnett 0 0 0 0 0
Nicholas 0 1 0 0 0
Totals 14 49 4 12 33 Totals 23 43 14 22 63
Shead 9 13 20 33
Deer Isle-Stonington 15 27 34 63
3-pt. goals – Shead (1-14): Lewey 1-4, Barnes 0-1, Sullivan 0-2, Pottle 0-7; DI-Stonington (3-11): Ciomei 2-8, Rollins 1-2, Carter 0-1
Comments
comments for this post are closed