BANGOR – Don’t get lulled into thinking Calais was taking anything for granted going into Friday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class C boys basketball semifinal against Houlton.

Sure, coach Ed Leeman’s Blue Devils, the two-time defending state champions, were riding an incredible 61-game winning streak. And top-seeded Calais had already beaten No. 5 Houlton twice during the regular season.

“It’s definitely easier [to play with confidence], but you still get nervous, just like every game you play,” said senior Sam Bell. “Playing at the Bangor Auditorium’s pretty special, so I’m just glad I’m here.”

Calais took the next step toward a third straight title Friday while taking a 65-51 victory over a stubborn Houlton ballclub at the Bangor Auditorium.

The Blue Devils (18-0) meet No. 2 Lee Academy (15-5) in today’s EM championship game at approximately 8:35 p.m.

“Everybody comes into the tournaments 0-0 and in order to win Eastern Maine, you’ve got to win three in a row, so that’s what everybody’s trying to do,” Leeman said. “We weren’t looking by Houlton by any means.”

Coach Mike Fogarty’s poised, disciplined Houlton ballclub (10-10) knew what it was up against. The Shiretowners played a lot of matchup zone in the first half and were patient on the offensive end.

Their efforts had them within 26-20 at halftime.

Calais took what was available offensively as senior Rod Tirrel canned four 3-pointers, on his way to a game-high 23 points, to keep the Blue Devils out in front.

“They have a lot of tall players, so we tried to pack it in and then when they kicked it out, Tirrel killed us and hit a couple 3’s,” said Houlton’s Parker Brown.

After Houlton’s Josh Beals opened the second half with a 3-pointer, the Blue Devils mounted their best sustained run (7-0) of the contest. Nathan O’Neill opened the spurt with a free throw, then Bell pulled up for an eight-footer in the lane off a Houlton turnover.

Tirrel followed with a 12-footer from the paint and Bell split the defense and hit a 10-foot fallaway shot to give Calais a 33-23 lead with 4:49 left.

The Shires wouldn’t get closer than seven after that.

“We just needed to tighten up on defense a little more,” Brown said. “We let them have a couple easy ones, uncontested. Calais is a great team. They don’t make any mistakes at all and they capitalized on all of ours.”

Calais widened out its offense and worked for high-percentage shots while pushing the lead to 16 at one point.

Bell complemented Tirrel (seven rebounds) with 16 points and five assists, while Cal Shorey provided eight points, nine rebounds and five assists and Cam Shorey added seven points and five boards.

Calais outrebounded Houlton 34-21.

The Shires exhibited tremendous balance and chemistry. Brown (8 points, six assists) was the catalyst, while Beals (seven rebounds) and Ryan Hill (five rebounds, four steals) netted 11 points each. Abe Carmichael scored 10 points.

pwarner@bangordailynews.net

990-8240

BLUE DEVILS 65, SHIRETOWNERS 51

Houlton (10-10) Calais (18-0)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Brown 3 8 2 2 8 Cal. Shry 1 8

Bates 4 7 0 0 8 Bell 5 12 16

Hill 4 10 3 4 11 O’Neill 1 2 1 3

Beals 3 6 4 5 11 Leeman 1 1 3

Carmichel 4 8 2 2 10 Tirrel 9 14 23

Austin 1 1 0 0 3 Cvnaugh 1 2 5

Bragan 0 1 0 0 0 Cam.Shry 3 10 1 2 7

Longstaff 0 0 0 0 0

Woodwrth 0 0 0 0 0

Flewelling 0 0 0 0 0

Gervais 0 0 0 0 0

McGuire 0 0 0 0 0

Totals 19 41 11 13 51 Totals 21 47 18 25 65

Houlton 8 20 30 51

Calais 12 26 39 65

3-pt. goals – Houlton (2-8): Brown 0-2, Austin 1-1, Bates 0-1, Hill 0-2, Beals 1-2; Calais (5-11): Cal Shorey 0-1, Cam Shorey 0-1, Bell 0-2, Leeman 1-1, Tirrel 4-6