MILO — Few of the Lee Academy boys basketball players had experienced the intensity opposing teams face when they enter Oakes Gymnasium, so longtime coach Randy Harris offered his unique description of that environment before his Pandas squared off against Penquis in a battle of Eastern Maine Class C powers Saturday.
“I told them it was like going into a bee’s nest,” said Harris. “The other example I used was two big-horned sheep banging heads. If you don’t bang as hard as the other sheep does, you’re going to lose.”
Penquis fed off its boisterous crowd early in the contest, but Lee gradually settled down, using balanced offense and suffocating halfcourt defense to surge past the previously undefeated Patriots 61-47.
Both teams are now 7-1.
“Coach told me it was going to get rowdy and it was going to get loud,” said senior guard D.J. Johnson, one of four Lee scorers to finish in double figures. “We just had to overcome it, play hard and get rebounds and the game would come to us.”
Johnson, senior guard Jasil Elder — one of the few returnees from Lee’s 2011 state championship team — and 6-foot-4 senior forward Haris Karagic each scored 14 points for the Pandas. Johnson added seven rebounds and five assists, while Elder had six rebounds, four assists and three steals and Karagic contributed seven rebounds and three blocks.
Brad Kong, a 6-8 freshman center, came off the Lee bench to add 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
“They’re bigger, faster and stronger,” said Penquis coach Tony Hamlin. “When you’re playing against 6-4 and 6-3 and 6-2 and you’re 5-10, guess what, you can’t get by them and they can get by you.”
Isaiah Bess led Penquis with a game-high 24 points, including an 11-of-15 performance from the free throw line, but the sophomore forward was hounded by several Lee defenders and was unable to create many open shots from the Patriots’ halfcourt sets.
Overall the Patriots made only 13 of 60 field-goal attempts, or 21.7 percent as Lee yielded just eight baskets that weren’t the result of offensive rebounds, steals or loose-ball plays.
“In the halfcourt I thought our defense was very good,” said Harris. “We’ve got some very good on-the-ball defenders, not as many as Penquis, but we thought we could throw some different looks at them.”
Penquis also entered the contest allowing just 32.4 points per game, but Lee capitalized on its transition offense as well as its rebounding strength to generate its scoring chances after a first quarter during which the Pandas managed just nine points.
“We said once we got the defensive rebound to look for the guards and push the ball,” said Johnson. “We’re a lot more athletic than most teams, and that’s how we get our easy buckets.”
Lee opened the second quarter with 14 unanswered points to erase a six-point deficit, a run ignited by a driving basket by Johnson after a Penquis turnover, a free throw by Jason Wu and a follow-up basket by Johnson that pulled Lee within 15-14 just 59 seconds into the period.
Dustin Sawtelle gave the Pandas the lead for good with a 3-point shot, and Karagic followed with two layups and two free throws to extend the margin to 23-15 before Penquis ended a 3-minute, 45-second scoreless drought with two Bess free throws.
“We took care of the ball a lot better,” said Johnson. “We’ve got shooters and we’ve got size, so once we get past halfcourt we can score the ball. We just got out and ran and played with more intensity and energy.”
Bess made two more free throws and a jumper to help the Patriots close within 27-23 at intermission, but in one sense the opening 16 minutes was an opportunity lost for Penquis.
“We had four misses from point blank in the first half, and I told the kids if those shots go in we go into the locker room ahead instead of behind,” said Hamlin. “But every time we missed one of those we fouled and they got points out of it instead.”
A jumper by Bess made it a two-point game 44 seconds into the second half, but Lee answered with another big run, this time a 14-1 surge to take firm control of the contest.
Johnson followed two Elder free throws with back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch out the Pandas’ lead to 35-26, then Wu and Elder sandwiched offensive-rebound baskets around a runner by Johnson after a Karagic steal to give Lee 41-26 cushion.
Penquis got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Lee: more like an international all-star team. The best team money can buy.
Tough to see a local team loose to a team that recruits players from around the world. I understand fully what they are doing is perfectly legal by the MPA standards however it still doesn’t sit well with me. Lee has a Prep team also so the “they are students who happen to play basketball” doesn’t pass the straight face test as they easily could play on that team.
I agree with you 100%. I have no problem with with exchange students, but when players are actively recruited from other states or countries like they would be in college or the NBA, that doesn’t seem right to me. I found the roster for their prep team, and I’d be willing to guess that the team that played Penquis yesterday, probably reads close to the same.
http://www.leeacademy.org/prep_roster.html
And you know this how?????????? There are numerous teams “actively recruiting” foreign students, including George Stevens Academy and John Bapst. Most of the schools are private, trying to stay afloat financially. Lee was probably the first school in Maine to do so and has, in fact, opened satellite schools in China and, the last I knew, was in the process of opening at least one in South Korea. People don’t seem to have any problem with alumni pumping thousands into the bigger public schools’ coffers but let some little upstart private school try to be competetive and all h**l breaks loose. In this economy, it’s called survival.
Do you really think a 6’8″ Asian kid is just gonna wake up in the morning and say to himself, “Hey, I think I’m gonna move to the other side of the earth to the most backwoods part of Maine. I don’t care if they have a basketball team, I’m going to go there for a better education.” I doubt it.
This is directly from their website: “……… we have developed ties with major scouting services, Big East, Big 12, America East schools and the NBA. Our key personnel has years of experience both in the educational and athletic worlds. As a result of their experience, our personnel are on a first name basis with many of the major players of college and professional basketball. “
That is from the Post Graduate basketball team area of their website. Please get your facts straight before you post on here please.
The comments above are not what is taking away from the local kids playing ball. The kids being recruited from other parts of the world are. I have no problem with the exchange programs. I have a problem when kids are being recruited for sports and local kids are losing the chance to play because of it.
Yesterday was a good game. Penquis played hard. I am proud of our local boys. Goes to show that there is talent locally. GO PENQUIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s all I have to say about yesterdays game. They are my opinions. Now off to watch some football. Have a great Sunday everyone :)
I was at the game as well. I haven’t seen a game like that in a long time. The Penquis boys did an amazing job considering what they were up against. If I can get the day off, I’m planning on making the trip to Lee to see our boys get their win back.
I know where it is from. Remember, I’m the one who posted it. Do you really think that the schools relationship with the NBA and other huge colleges only extends to their post graduate basketball team?
The fact remains, as PenquisMom stated, the recruitment of international players and recruitment of key players from other parts of the country are taking away from local kids that want to play basketball on their schools team.
I have no problem with exchange students at all. We had an exchange student from the Czech Republic on our soccer team when I was in school. We didn’t recruit him, he came to us. However if myself and my teammates were cut from the team because my school recruited a half dozen European players, I’d be pretty upset.
Oh for the days when Calais kicked the crap out of Lee and their RECRUITED players !!!
Foxcroft,MCI,John Bapst,George Stevens, are all private schools who can recruit.Have a “private school league or make each school play up a class.That would solve a lot of this problem.
whine like only milo and tony hamlin can do
First let me start off by saying Hamlin nor Milo are whining about Lee’s win over Penquis. I was stating my opinion, which I am entitled to just like you are. If this article was reversed and a Lee fan was saying something about Penquis it would be okay, but its Penquis fans talking about Lee’s recruiting of players outside of the U.S.A. People hate Penquis and that is sad because you are hating on a group of children. Like I stated before, when schools go outside of their local area to recruit players it is taking away from the local children that want to play. I have no issue with the exchange program but to bring these kids to play ball (or any sport) is wrong. Its taking away from the local kids. Whats sad is winning has become more important than the children. I know other schools are doing this not just Lee and I would be saying the same thing about them. Give your local kids a chance to shine.