The Bangor Christian and Schenck boys know each other well. And they know how to put on a show at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
After meeting for last year’s Class D North regional championship, a game that the Bangor Christian Patriots won on their way to a state title, the teams faced off again Thursday in a semifinal matchup.
This time it went Schenck’s way, with the Wolverines of East Millinocket proving why they are the number one seed in Class D North this year. After a tight first half that saw the No. 4 Bangor Christian up by one at the break, Schenck unloaded in the third quarter on their way to a comfortable 52-36 win.
“It feels great, especially after last year, I can tell you that,” Schenck junior guard Brayden Osborne said after knocking out the returning champions.
Osborne knocked down 24 points to lead all scorers, with 10 in the third quarter alone. The Wolverines outscored the Patriots 23-8 in that quarter to take over what had been a close game up to that point.
“We’ve got a bunch of dogs on our team. We knew we had to come out and score, as well as play defense,” Osborne said, noting how much pride his team takes in its defense. “We can score and we did score.”
Schenck will now play in the D North regional final once again, this time against the second seed Katahdin cougars, who Osborne called a “great team.” The Cougars made a second half comeback against Central Aroostook to finish with a 64-54 win. The team’s split their two games in the regular season, with Katahdin dealing Schenck its only loss to start the year. Schenck won the second matchup two weeks later in mid December.
Schenck senior Samuel Jacobs added 11 points in the win on Thursday. Sophomore phenom Rajon Reed led the scoring for Bangor Christian with 12 points. The returning champions were a young team this year, as Patriots coach Charlie Colson emphasized after an overtime win in the previous round of tournament action.
Osborne said the history between the two teams was definitely in the back of the Wolverines’ minds heading into Thursday’s rematch.
“Last year, we beat them twice in the regular season and fell to them in the playoffs,” Osborne explained. “We beat them twice in the regular season this year, and we didn’t want to redo last year. Especially not in the semis.”
The Class D North championship will be on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. at the Cross Center.