AUGUSTA – One of the biggest challenges facing the Bangor boys basketball team this winter was to replace the production of graduated forward Alex Gallant, a first-team All-Maine choice who was the dominant player in postseason play as the Rams surged to the Class A state championship.

It has been a group effort to replace the statistics lost with the matriculation of Gallant to the basketball roster at Bates College in Lewiston.

But perhaps no one has been more important in filling that inside void beside starting center Ryan Weston than senior forward Billy Zolper.

The 6-foot-4 Zolper, who saw duty as a reserve during last winter’s tournament run, ranked third on the team in scoring and second in rebounding during Bangor’s undefeated regular season, and was named to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A North second team.

And through two tournament victories that have led the top-ranked Rams to Friday night’s regional championship game against second-ranked Edward Little of Auburn, Zolper shares the team lead in scoring with senior guard Lee Suvlu at 14 points per game.

“He’s been the X-factor for us, and he’s been pretty solid for us all year long,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “Nobody’s played better basketball for us all year long than Billy has.”

Zolper has made 11 of 15 shots from the field in two tournament games after making 47 percent during the season, with an array shots that include layups, post-up shots, midrange jumpers and even 3-pointers.

One of those 3-pointers came during the second quarter of Bangor’s 44-21 semifinal victory over Mt. Blue of Farmington on Wednesday night. The shot from the right of the key on an assist from Adam Bernstein came just after Mt. Blue had run 3 minutes, 24 seconds off the clock on a single possession, and ultimately gave Bangor a 7-4 lead.

The game was never tied again.

“They went triangle-and-two on Suvlu and [Jon] McAllian,” Zolper said. “That left me wide open for that 3, and then they pulled right out of that.”

Bangor’s quarterfinal foe, Brunswick, also tried to sacrifice defensively against Zolper to concentrate on his teammates, only to get burned as he scored 15 points in the Rams’ 74-56 quarterfinal win.

“I think the thing that separates Bangor is they have five guys who can do it, where we were more in the three-[player] range, and when you don’t account for two of them they take advantage,” said Brunswick coach Todd Hanson. “I thought they did a good job of exploiting our point guard. We had a 5-8 guy trying to guard Zolper, and they just put him in the post and he scored.”

Zolper’s adjustment to power forward was made slightly more challenging by the fact that he spent much of his earlier career playing on the perimeter, but having done it he now likes the versatility in his game.

“All my life I’ve been a guard even though I’m tall enough to play down low,” he said. “This year I’ve been playing inside and out, and I like it, because over the season I’ve learned how to play with my back to the basket, but I also like going outside, throwing down moves and going with jumpers, too.”

Bangor, EL familiar foes

Bangor’s bid for a second straight Eastern Maine championship comes down to its fourth meeting of the season against an Edward Little team that has given the Rams their toughest tests of the winter.

Bangor, 20-0 this year and the winner of 30 consecutive games overall, edged the second-seeded Red Eddies 56-53 behind 23 points from senior guard McAllian at Auburn on Dec. 28, then pulled away to a 57-42 victory at Red Barry Gymnasium in Bangor on Jan. 25, with Zolper’s 19 points and seven rebounds leading the way.

Bangor also defeated Edward Little in the KVAC championship game on Feb. 11.

“I think we’re looking forward to it,” said Bangor center Weston of the next meeting with EL, scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Augusta Civic Center. “We’ve played them three times, twice we played terrible and once we played pretty well. They’re a good bunch of guys and it should be a good, fun game. They’re a great team and we’re going to prepare hard for them.”

Edward Little, 16-4 this season, was stunned by No. 8 Hampden Academy in last year’s quarterfinals after going undefeated during the regular season.

But coach Mike Adams’ Red Eddies – despite the graduation loss of 2007 Mr. Maine Basketball Troy Barnies to the University of Maine – is back in contention thanks to a four-guard attack and an emerging frontcourt presence.

Seniors Ben Hartnett, Kyle Philbrook and Eric Prue are all returning starters from a year ago, and they are joined by classmate Muktar Sharif to give Edward Little perhaps the quickest team in the region.

And 6-foot-3 junior center Corey Therriault has developed to give the Red Eddies a strong interior complement, as evidenced by his 12 points and 11 rebounds in EL’s 57-29 semifinal victory over Lawrence of Fairfield.

Cony, Oxford Hills to meet

The Bangor-Edward Little game will be preceded at 4 p.m. by the Eastern A girls final between No. 3 Cony of Augusta and No. 5 Oxford Hills of South Paris.

Cony, the defending state champion, is in search of its sixth Eastern Maine title in the last seven years after defeating No. 6 Brunswick in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Morse of Bath 53-43 in Wednesday afternoon’s semifinals. Coach Paul Vachon’s Rams (18-2) are led by 6-foot-2 senior center Rachael Mack, a semifinalist for Miss Maine Basketball.

Oxford Hills, which owns a regular-season win at Cony, has been the story of the Eastern A girls tournament, knocking off No. 4 Bangor in the quarterfinals and then stunning top-ranked Lawrence of Fairfield 49-41 in the semifinals. The Vikings (14-6) are led by senior guard Kari Pelletier, who has made 25 of 30 free throws in two tourney games, and have been boosted by the return of 6-foot sophomore center Megan Joyce just three weeks after suffering a pelvis injury.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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