Of all the great basketball being played in the north region this year, Class B might be home to the best. The top of the standings is chock-full of talented teams and prolific scorers, and there may be no division that’s harder to predict heading into tournament time.
Senior guard Carter Wiggin and the well-balanced Hermon Hawks team won 13 of its first 15 games. Mount Desert Island junior guard James Witham has become one of the state’s toughest players to guard on a team that only lost once in its first 15 games — in a triple-overtime marathon against Hermon. Both Ellsworth and Gardiner are talented teams that deserve to be in the conversation about regional title contenders as well.
But among all of the depth in Class B, the Cony Rams of Augusta have earned the spot as favorites. Not only did the Rams win 16 games during the regular season, matched only by Hermon in the division, but Cony also dealt Camden Hills its first and only loss on Jan. 24.
Cony has been playing some of the most exciting and up-tempo basketball in all of Class B, and by beating the top team in Class A North, the Rams have distinguished themselves as the team to beat in the region.
Hermon may have found a blueprint for slowing that high-powered offense with a 60-47 win over Cony in early January, but the Rams also may have learned from that defeat.
“We’re going to fix some things and we’re gonna be ready,” Cony freshman phenom Carter Brathwaite said after that loss against Hermon.
Brathwaite was second in Cony’s conference for Class B scorers through the first 10 games, averaging more than 20 points per contest. And he was one of three Cony players in the top 20 of that scoring list, with seniors Jackson Kay and Parker Morin averaging more than 16 and 13 points respectively.
Combined, that high-powered Cony offense averaged nearly 80 points per game through the first 10 games of the season. If that relentless attack is at its best during the tournament, the Rams will be a force to be reckoned with.