High school basketball practices were postponed Friday because of bad weather for many teams around the state that have qualified for postseason play.
But for the boys squads from Foxcroft Academy, Hermon and Penobscot Valley of Howland, just having a reason to continue practicing once the snowfall subsides and the roads are cleared is a satisfying feeling secured only through victories in their final regular-season games Thursday night.
“I really thought we were going to make it by a fraction of a point,” said Foxcroft coach Tyler Erickson, whose team moved up to the 11th of 12 available playoff positions in Class B North with an 89-68 victory over Central of Corinth. “I’m not too keen on the Heal points and wasn’t looking into it too deep, but I was pretty confident in telling the kids they’d be in if they won.”
The most dramatic of those last-chance victories came at Sereyko Gymnasium in Howland, where Thomas Spencer’s short jumper from the lane with three seconds left gave Penobscot Valley a 42-41 victory over Greenville and the final playoff berth in Class C North.
The game-winner came shortly after Greenville, a tournament team in Class D South, took a 41-40 lead when sophomore guard Nick Foley buried a deep 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining.
“Looking at the film he must have been probably 8 feet beyond the 3-point line,” said PVHS coach Jeremy Durost. “He throws one up, and it’s nothing but net.
“We called time out and ran a play, and they did a good job of doubling our leading scorer, Grant Doane, but Thomas Spencer cut into the lane, got a pass and put it in,” he added.
The dramatic win ended a five-game losing streak for the Howlers, and combined with victories by Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln over Houlton and Stearns of Millinocket over Penquis Valley of Milo pushed Penobscot Valley into 12th place in Class C North, 0.1234 Heal points ahead of defending state champion Calais.
“Our boys program has come under some hard times as far as competitiveness over the last four years,” said Durost, a PVHS alumnus. “So it’s rewarding to see these kids get some recognition and some support.”
Spencer, Doane Jacob Whitten and Jarrett Priest are the lone seniors on the Howlers roster, and their first three varsity seasons produced records of 4-14, 0-18 and 2-16 before a 4-0 start this winter gave the veterans hope for earning the program’s first preliminary-round bid since they were eighth-graders.
“Their sophomore year, when we went 0-18, we didn’t have a loss that was even single digits,” said Durost, whose team, 8-10, will visit No. 5 Schenck of East Millinocket in next week’s prelims. “They could have given up and thrown in the towel and started thinking about baseball or soccer, but they stayed with it, and it’s great to see them rewarded.”
A Foxcroft team ravaged by injuries for much of the season rallied from an 0-6 start to secure its preliminary-round berth by winning three of its last four games, including a buzzer-beating overtime victory over Hermon two nights before the Ponies outscored Central in its finale.
“I feel like I’ve aged 10 years,” said Erickson, who took the Foxcroft coaching post this season after a successful stint at Greenville.
Foxcroft has been during its late surge led by senior forward Hunter Smith, the 2015 Big East Conference player of the year who steadily has been rounding into top form after suffering a dislocated hip while playing football in late August.
Smith scored 25 points against Central despite suffering a late-game ankle injury and has averaged 23.2 points per game over Foxcroft’s last five contests.
Foxcroft (6-12) also got a huge performance against Central from sophomore guard Drew Dankert, who made 10 of his 11 3-point attempts while scoring a game-high 31 points.
“It was one of those nights for Drew,” said Erickson. “Central started out in a 1-3-1 (zone) and Drew shot them out of that. Then they tried some different defenses and Drew really kept us going in the first half.”
Max Santagata, a 6-foot-2 forward, added 16 points in the Central victory, which earned Foxcroft a trip to Aroostook County to face No. 6 Caribou (10-8) in Wednesday’s preliminary round. Game time is 6 p.m.
“All season long I kept telling my guys we had enough talent in this locker room to make a run, and we were blessed with a schedule that has enough points to get us there,” said Erickson, whose team lost to Caribou 49-48 in their only regular-season meeting on Dec. 12. “We didn’t have to win a ton of games, we just had to win the right ones.”
Hermon’s task was similarly direct if the Hawks were to join Foxcroft in the final Class B North playoff spots — beat John Bapst of Bangor.
Those three teams and Mount View of Thorndike all were in contention entering Thursday’s play.
Hermon ventured to the truest of postseason settings in the region, the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, and knocked off the host Crusaders 47-33 to edge the Crusaders by 4.321 Heal points for the 12th and final playoff spot.
The win was the second of the season for coach Mark Reed’s club over John Bapst, and the second victory in Hermon’s last three games after a 1-5 stretch that involved losses to Old Town, Ellsworth, Washington Academy of East Machias, Orono and Mount Desert Island of Bar Harbor — the top five teams in Class B North that sport a combined record of 73-17.
Two sophomores, guard Keenan Marseille and forward Jordan Bishop, led Hermon offensively against John Bapst, with Marseille scoring 14 points and Bishop adding 13 as the Hawks extended the playing careers of seniors Mat Allen, Tyler Beaton, Isaiah Marseille and Colby Wittmer.
Hermon (9-9) will play at No. 5 MDI (14-4) in next week’s prelims. MDI has defeated the Hawks twice this winter but escaped with a 45-44 win in the earlier meeting in Bar Harbor on Dec. 12.
