The Brewer boys basketball team finally got its offense untracked during the third quarter and built a 22-point lead over visiting Bangor in the latest renewal of their rivalry on Thursday evening.
Coach Ben Goodwin’s Witches needed nearly all of that cushion to emerge with a 64-53 victory over the Rams to close out the regular season on Senior Night at Brewer High School.
Bangor, as it has been known to do throughout what has been a frustrating winter on the hardwood, wasn’t to be overwhelmed by the significant deficit, and rallied to narrow its deficit to five points with less than three minutes left before Brewer finally put the game away by making 10 of 12 late free-throw tries.
“We put a lot of emphasis this year on making free throws,” Goodwin said. “The way our offense works we usually get to the foul line quite a bit when we take it to the basket and making free throws is a key to that.”
The win improves Brewer to 16-2 on the season, with the Witches expected to finish second in the final Class A North Heal points and face a regional quarterfinal on Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Augusta Civic Center.
Bangor’s hard-luck regular season ended at 6-12 after a 5-1 start, with the Rams’ 12 losses coming by an average of 7 points.
The Rams, seeded seventh in Class AA North, await a road game in its regional quarterfinal next week, likely at Oxford Hills of South Paris.
“We’re continuing to fight,” said Bangor coach Brad Libby, whose team was playing its third game in as many nights against opponents — Class AA North top seed Edward Little of Auburn, No. 2 Oxford Hills and Brewer — that began Thursday’s play with a combined 44-7 record.
Junior forward Brady Saunders paced Brewer to the victory with 21 points and seven rebounds, including 12 points during the third quarter as the Witches outscored Bangor 23-11 to expand its 26-18 halftime lead to 49-29 entering the game’s final eight minutes.
Senior guard Aaron Newcomb scored 12 points while four-year backcourt mate Colby Smith added 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists and junior forward Brock Flagg also scored 11 points.
Bangor was led by sophomore forward Landon Clark’s 23 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter as the Rams closed to within 54-49 on two Clark free throws with 2:47 left to cap off a 20-3 Bangor run.
Senior guards Ryan Howard and Brayden Caron added eight points apiece for Bangor while senior forward Max Clark grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Both teams began the game sluggish on the offensive end, with Brewer shooting just 25 percent (4 of 16) from the field compared with 33 percent (4 of 12) for Bangor en route to a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Brewer picked up its shooting during the second quarter, making 6 of 15 tries to offset a Bangor offense aided by six points by junior forward Connor Boone that helped the Rams remain within eight points at intermission.
The teams combined to take just three free throws in the first half, but the line proved to be a source of considerable offense for both Brewer and Bangor after the break.
Brewer, which got a 2-of-2 performance from the line by junior forward Ryder Goodwin in the first half, finished the night making 14 of its 16 free throws.
Landon Clark made 12 of his 14 attempts, including 9 of 10 during the fourth quarter alone, as Bangor made 14 of 17 tries from the line overall.
