BREWER, Maine — Tournament time is on the horizon, and for the Bangor boys basketball team the rebuilding process looks complete.
Coach Roger Reed’s club, which lost to archrival Brewer by a humbling 57-35 on its home court back on Dec. 16, used its height advantage and some clutch free-throw shooting by senior point guard Ryan Larochelle to outlast the Witches 59-54 in their regular-season finale Thursday night.
The win was Bangor’s 11th in its last 12 games, and should leave the Rams ranked fifth in Eastern Maine Class A and earning a preliminary-round bye when the final Heal point ratings are released Sunday.
“What we wanted to do throughout the year was to peak going into the tournament,” said Bangor senior forward Dan Taft, who contributed 13 points and 14 rebounds to the victory. “I definitely think we’ve been playing well lately, and this is obviously a big win going into the tournament. It gives us a lot of confidence.”
Brewer finished one of its best regular seasons in recent history at 14-4, and coach Clayton Blood’s club likely will finish second in Eastern A and also earn a bye.
Bangor used its frontcourt depth to control the backboards, with sophomore Josiah Hartley — who also saw action during the junior varsity contest — coming off the bench to grab 13 rebounds and team with Taft, Maxx Alexander, Zach Blodgett and Clark Noonan to give the Rams a 43-25 rebounding advantage.
“I think it really helped us out both offensively and defensively,” said Taft, “not giving them second shots and getting some put-backs of our own off the offensive boards.”
Bangor (13-5) never trailed after taking a 6-0 lead on 3-pointers by Larochelle and Alexander, and the Rams maintained a double-digit lead at halftime (32-20) and entering the fourth quarter (46-32) before Brewer mounted a fierce rally.
Trailing 54-43 after Larochelle made two free throws with 3:26 to play, Brewer used its fullcourt defense and the long-range shooting of senior guard Coby Hutchins to pull within 54-51 with 1:33 left.
Hutchins twice hit from beyond the 3-point arc before junior forward Dom Drake scored in transition after a Bangor turnover to draw the Witches within a single possession.
But when Brewer couldn’t force another turnover on Bangor’s next possession the Witches fouled, and Larochelle made two free throws to give the Rams a five-point edge with 1:26 left.
Brewer then went scoreless for nearly a minute, and Mack Susi, Hartley and Larochelle each hit 1 of 2 from the line to extend the Rams led to 59-51 with 42 seconds to play.
“Their press is the best press we’ve seen all year, and when you take all the quick athletic guards they have and throw Nate Carson in there with his 6-foot-5 staring at you, it’s tough to break their press,” said Larochelle, who scored a team-high 16 points. “We haven’t been shooting foul shots well this year, but we got a good performance there tonight.”
Conversely, Brewer was hurt by its inability to make shots. The Witches shot just 31 percent (17 of 55) from the field, 29 percent (7 of 24) from 3-point land and 44 percent (13 of 29) from the free-throw line.
“You have to put the ball in the hole to put on pressure, and a lot of those missed free throws were on the back end where you could press and now you’re not able to do it,” said Blood. “But give Ryan Larochelle tons of credit. He handled our pressure all night, and he drained a bunch of free throws down the stretch.”
Drake led Brewer with 16 points and five steals, while Hutchins scored 13 points and senior forward Billy Bissell added 12 points and nine rebounds.
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