BANGOR – What started out as a laugher almost became the ultimate bad joke on Bangor.

But thanks to a late dressing-down by their justifiably upset coach and a return to basics, the Rams still managed to have the last laugh and a 61-49 over cross-river rival Brewer at Bangor High School Wednesday night.

The 2-0 Rams simply dominated the 0-2 Witches from the outset, reeling off 16 unanswered points and shutting Brewer out in the opening quarter.

“We were flawless the first period. We played extremely well defensively. We were everywher we should have been,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed, whose team’s tight man-to-man defense resulted in four steals and eight Brewer turnovers in the first quarter.

The Rams shot a sizzling 65 percent from the field in the first half to build a 25-2 lead and take a 32-13 halftime lead into the locker room.

Things didn’t get much better for the Witches in the third quarter, although they did improve their shooting percentage from 0 to 26although they did improve their shooting percentage from 0 to 26 percent in two quarters and were only outscored 16-14.

But after Bangor made it 52-29 with seven minutes left, the Witches started chipping away with foul shots (Brewer reached the bonus with 47 seconds left in the third) and Bangor turnovers.

Bangor’s lead dwindled a bit to 54-33, and then the Witches went on a run, scoring 14 unanswered points as they switched to a full-court press that helped create nine Bangor turnovers and cut the Rams’ lead to seven with 1:40 to play.

That’s when Reed called timeout and let his team have it.

“The problem of what happened to us at the end of the game actually started in the second period,” Reed said. “I said, `When you guys went in, you were nonchalant, you were looking at the crowd and putting your hands up when you scored a basket – all of that stuff is garbage. You don’t do that stuff. That makes the other team start picking it up a little bit.’

“The game isn’t won in the second period. It’s got to be played through to the end. Don’t get caught up in all the hype. They watch too much ESPN, I think, sometimes.”

The message came through loud and clear as the Rams revved up their press-breaking offensive set to score an easy hoop and draw four fouls in 81 seconds.

Bangor shot 5-for-7 from the line down the stretch to close out the game with a 7-2 run that doused the Witches’ comeback hopes.

Junior forward Nick Loukes scored 11 of his 16 points on some nifty moves under the basket in the second half to help the Rams quash the rally.

“We kind of thought we’d won the game already in the second quarter,” Loukes said. “We were playing tough, but it just seemed like the flair wasn’t there. But when they started coming back, we got it together again.”

Rams guard Elliot Blackstone had 11 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Corey Gildart also tossed in 11.

Senior center Tim Hughes led the Witches with 12 points and nine boards. Guard Chris Leighton had 10 points.

“I was pleased that we stayed with it. It could have gotten really out of hand. It could have been a 30-, 35-point game, but to their credit, we battled back and it gives us something to build on,” said Brewer coach David Paul. “Hopefully the kids will learn from this and realize we have to play that hard from beginning to end.”

Rams 61, Witches 49

Brewer (0-2) Bangor (2-0)

Name G AG F AF TP Name G AG F AF TP

Bicknell 2 3 0 0 4 Vanidestine 0 1 0 0 0

Violette 1 7 5 6 8 Loukes 6 10 4 6 16

Leighton 3 6 2 2 10 Gildart 4 8 2 3 11

Sieber 1 10 0 0 3 Peoples 3 10 0 0 7

Killip 0 0 0 0 0 Blackstone 4 11 2 3 11

Snell 0 1 0 0 0 Crane 0 4 1 2 1

Johnson 0 2 0 0 0 St. Pierre 0 2 0 0 0

Rapp 2 3 0 0 4 Campbell 0 1 0 0 0

Dearborn 0 0 2 4 2 Bradford 3 3 0 0 6

Vickery 0 0 3 4 3 Johnson 0 1 0 0 0

Kimball 1 3 0 0 2 Chadbourne 1 1 0 0 3

Hughes 4 14 4 6 12 Bouchard 1 2 0 0 2

Aucoin 0 0 1 2 1 Quirk 1 2 0 0 2

Civiello 1 1 0 0 2

Totals 14 49 17 24 49 Totals 24 57 9 14 61

Brewer 0 13 27 49

Bangor 16 32 48 61

3-pt. goals: Brewer (4-12): Leighton 2-3, Sieber 1-3, Violette 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Hughes 0-2; Bangor (4-10): Chadbourne 1-1, Peoples 1-1, Blackstone 1-2, Gildart 1-3, Loukes 0-1, Crane 0-2

Attendance: 350 (est.)

Preliminary: Bangor JVs 55-29