BREWER – A little more than a month ago, Brewer couldn’t manage a single point in the first quarter and spotted Bangor a 16-0 lead before mounting a big second half comeback and making things interesting in a 12-point loss..

This time around, the Witches switched from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone defense and kept the game close in the first half.

But thanks to an explosive third quarter in which the Rams shot 55 percent from the floor and canned three of four 3-pointers, the end result was pretty much the same in the latest battle between these cross-river rivals.

The Rams beat back a couple late runs by the Witches and posted a 72-61 victory to improve their record to 10-2. Brewer fell to 3-7.

“This is always a tremendous atmosphere over here to play in. The kids love to play over here, but it’s never easy,” said Bangor coach Roger Reed. “A lot of people hold this in higher esteem, but since they don’t give us two wins for this one, I’m just happy to leave here with a win.”

The Witches cut Bangor’s lead, which grew as big as 18 points in the second half, to seven points with a minute left, but they used up a lot of fouls and energy to do so.

“At the end, we needed to get some quick scores and we penetrated, but they weren’t going in,” said Brewer coach Dave Paul. “And then they hit some foul shots to kind of pull away.”

The Rams knocked down eight of 12 free throws in the final three minutes and exploited the press for eight points in the paint off quick passes to the baseline.

Corey Gildart was the big weapon down the stretch. The Rams’ point guard was 4-for-4 from the line in the last two minutes and found Joe Campbell wide open on the baseline to help Bangor ice things in the last 40 seconds.

Gildart credited another guard for getting Bangor’s offense going.

“We don’t like to get into an outside shooting game,” he said, “but when they came out in a strong zone we knew we had to really step it up from the outside and Elliot really did that with those quick threes in the second quarter.”

Elliot was Elliot Blackstone, the 6-foot-1 Rams’ guard who went 3-for-3 from 3-point range in the second quarter and finished with a game-high 21 points, despite fouling out with 5:28 left to play.

“It seems I change my approach every game,” Blackstone said. “I try not to be too selfish, but sometimes coach wants me to take a lot of shots. Today I had the shots, I took them, and they were falling.”

Despite Blackstone’s hot hand, the Witches stayed close, thanks to the 1-2 scoring/rebounding punch of center Tim Hughes (16 points, 13 rebounds) and forward Frank Rapp, who had seven boards and scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. The Witches held a 35-30 rebounding edge.

“Frankie Rapp just kept working us to death… I wasn’t happy with our post defense. We try to rebound by commitee,” Reed said. “The big thing was hitting a lot of shots early in the second half. That gave us a good cushion.”

Guard Duane Peoples had a solid overall game for Bangor with 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists.

Rams 72, Witches 61

Bangor (10-2) Brewer (3-7)

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

Loukes 3 5 1 3 9 Bicknell 1 7 0 0 2

Gildart 3 10 8 8 14 Violette 1 4 0 0 3

Peoples 5 8 3 4 16 Leighton 2 7 2 4 7

Blackstone 7 12 4 4 21 Sieber 0 3 0 0 0

Campbell 2 6 0 0 4 Killip 0 0 0 1 0

Bradford 2 4 0 2 4 Snell 0 2 0 0 0

Johnson 0 2 0 0 0 Johnson 1 3 2 2 5

Civiello 2 2 0 0 4 Rapp 7 9 0 1 14

Dearborn 3 6 7 7 14

Hughes 6 13 2 4 16

Totals 24 49 16 21 72 Totals 21 54 13 19 61

Bangor 17 33 50 72

Brewer 14 26 37 61

3-pt. goals: Bangor (8-13): Peoples 3-4, Blackstone 3-4, Loukes 2-2, Gildart 0-3; Brewer (6-18): Hughes 2-3, Johnson 1-1, Dearborn 1-2, Violette 1-3, Leighton 1-5, Bicknell 0-1, Sieber 0-3

Attendance: 796

Preliminary: Brewer 37-33