Summer basketball

BANGOR – Five weeks of intensive summer basketball, the last two of which were extremely hot and humid, wound down to one last game Tuesday.

Central of East Corinth and John Bapst of Bangor each came away with semifinal victories to advance to the championship game of the 4th annual Hoops Inc./Merchants Summer Basketball League tournament at the Bangor Auditorium.

The 12-0 Crusaders, the top seed in the East Division and the only unbeaten team in the tourney, posted a 44-37 win over Mount View of Thorndike in the second semifinal.

Thanks to an almost unstoppable transition game keyed by an effective full-court press, which was in turn keyed by Central’s superior speed and depth, No. 2 West Division seed Central came away with a 65-44 victory over No. 4 Lee Academy in Tuesday’s first semi.

John Bapst and Central were scheduled to meet Tuesday night for the title.

“Our inside game wasn’t as good as I’d like,” said Central coach Jamie Russell. “We need to play better half-court, but our defense was able to take the pressure off by creating lots of turnovers and transition points off our press.”

The Red Devils used a withering 2-2-1 press to foil Lee’s long pass strategy and push them to a 15-point lead in the second quarter and Central never looked back.

Star guard Ryan Rivera led the Devils with 16 points and helped ignite the defense with a few steals.

“His defense is overlooked by a lot of people, but it’s something he takes great pride in and has probably improved the most in this summer,” Russell said.

Also pacing Central were Justin Ladd and John King, each with 10 points.

Chris Carr led 5-7 Lee with 13 points and Derik Dicker pitched in with 11.

Rivera is excited about Central’s prospects this winter after his team’s impressive showing (10-2) this summer.

“Coming from Central, people expect us to lose,” Rivera said bluntly. “And most of those people are kids at our school. They say `Oh Central’s playing, they’ll probably lose,’ and then they don’t come to games. Hopefully we can turn that around and make Central a tough place to play this season. To gain recognition, you have to beat the best and John Bapst is always considered an elite team. I think beating a team like that will give us confidence. We don’t want to be a Rodney Dangerfield team anymore.”

Rivera got his wish as John Bapst survived despite a gutty performance by the No. 3 Mustangs and notched the win. Mike Mathien led the way with 22 points in spite of being constantly double- and triple-teamed.

“Mike is coming off a bad ankle sprain and he was wearing a cast, but he’s played with injuries before and he was fine,” said John Bapst coach Bob Cimbollek.

Cimbollek lamented the absence of his chief ballhandler, Geoff Halberwho was where?, but was happy with the way his team withstood a late charge by the Mustangs.

“We’ve been without him before this summer and the kids have stepped up pretty well,” he said.

Mustangs coach Mike Brown was impressed by Mathien’s play inside.

“We sagged on defense a lot and he still got off a lot of shots, and he had to do it against a lot of guys, but he did it. He’s just too tough to stop,” Brown said.

Red Devils 65, Pandas 44 Lee Academy (5-7) 44

Corbin 2-1-6, Jacobs, Downs 1-0-2, C. Worster 2-1-5, Ripley 2-3-7, E. Worster, Dicker 3-3-11, Carr 5-3-13, Renaud Central (10-2) 65

Ladd 4-1-10, M. Straub, S. Straub, Rivera 6-3-16, Smith 1-0-2, Noel 2-0-4, Tatro 3-2-8, Foster, King 4-3-11, Nichols, Quinn, McDonald 1-0-2, Kane 1-0-3, Harris 4-1-9, Strout

3-pt. goals: Lee (Corbin, Dicker 2), Central (Ladd, Rivera, Kane) Lee Academy 15 24 38 44 Central 26 37 54 65

Crusaders 44, Mustangs 37 Mount View (7-5) 37

Rogers 6-0-13, P. Fitzpatrick 3-0-8, Von Oesen, Elwell 3-0-7, Roberts 3-3-9, Krueger, Potter, Brugger, Parckette, Goodale, B. Fitzpatrick, Mahar, Palmer, Bryant John Bapst (12-0) 44

M. Mathien 9-4-22, T. Mathien 4-3-12, Schelling, Healey 2-0-4, Tremble 0-2-2, Kirkpatrick 1-0-2, Aldrich 0-1-1, Owen 0-1-1, Kearney, Dayne

3-pt. goals: Mount View, Rogers, P. Fitzpatrick 2, Elwell; John Bapst, T. Mathien Mount View 9 20 33 37 John Bapst 15 21 32 44