BANGOR, Maine — Neither of Saturday afternoon’s Eastern Maine Class B regional boys quarterfinals was pretty, and they didn’t exactly go according to plan, but the end result was just what both winning coaches were looking for.
The top-seeded and undefeated Camden Hills Windjammers stayed that way with a 72-41 victory over No. 9 Maranacook of Readfield that looked easier than it was and the No. 5 Hermon Hawks ended No. 13 Foxcroft Academy’s surprise playoff run with a 47-22 victory at the Bangor Auditorium Saturday afternoon.
The 19-0 Windjammers advance to play 16-4 Hermon in a Wednesday 8:35 p.m. semifinal.
In the early game, the Hawks took a slightly offbeat path to victory by using their offense to spark their defense and seize control of momentum — and the game — early.
Three straight Hawks’ 3-pointers broke a 4-4 tie, sparked a 19-2 run, and put the Ponies on their heels for the rest of the game as FA couldn’t get closer than 13 the rest of the way.
“When you have kids who’ve never even been in here, let alone played here, it’s tough, especially when you’re up against a defense as good as theirs,” said FA coach David Carey, whose Ponies finish 12-8.
“We knew we had to have patience on the offensive end, we had to make some shots, and we had to pray they didn’t go off with their perimeter shooting for us to hang around,” Carey added. “I believe those 3’s really got them going.”
Sophomore guard Taylor Gross was Hermon’s Mr. Outside as he hit two of those three 3-pointers en route to five total and 15 points.
“The intensity from our offense just made us want to work harder on defense and send a message,” said Gross, referring to an effort that limited FA to 20 percent shooting from the floor.
Senior forward Andrew Ball was Mr. Inside as he grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to go with six points and two blocks.
“When he starts hitting 3’s, the defense widens and there’s more room in the middle for us to work the post,” said Ball, who had to have stitches for a cut on the inside of his lip.
Junior guard Colton Gross, Taylor’s brother, scored 10 points for the Hawks. Overall, the Hawks shot 50 percent from 3-point range and outrebounded FA 35-22.
“We got a couple open looks that we made and that seemed to swing momentum over to us,” said Hermon coach Mark Reed. “I think it gave a little bit of confidence to a young team. Hitting those shots early fueled our intensity.”
No FA player had more than five points, but James Johnson had four points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.
In the late game, the Windjammers were still feeling under the weather due to a team flu epidemic, but were able to regain their sea legs enough to post a solid win.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy. I could just see it in people’s faces, so I thought it was a really gutsy performance,” said Camden coach Jeff Hart.
Senior guard Kiefer Lammi led the Windjammers with 15 points and nine rebounds.
“The last couple weeks, our main focus has been rebounding,” said Lammi, who helped Camden outrebound the Black Bears 40-29. “Our main goal is to get out and run and not allow them to slow the game down.”
That goal was accomplished early with a 10-2 run that gave Camden some breathing room in the first quarter and later with a 22-2 run over the first 6½ minutes of the second half that put the game away.
“We just kept telling our guys to refuse to be blocked out and they did a great job in the second half, when we got a great start,” said Hart. “That really got us going.”
Forward Gordon Fischer had 16 points, seven rebounds and two steals for Camden. Graham Safford and Tyler McFarland each scored 11 points.
Bears 6-foot-8 junior center Ben Johnson had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks — all game highs. Devin Gerrity chipped in with 12 points.