Staff Writer
On Monday, the Houlton Shiretowners traveled to Calais and were handed a 65-54 loss by the Blue Devils.
The Shires were without the services of junior James Bates, who was sidelined due to illness.
“Calais came out and applied full-court pressure on us in the first half,” said Houlton coach Mike Fogarty. “We did not handle it very well.”
Calais jumped to a 20-10 opening lead and extended it to a 40-23 halftime advantage. After three, the Blue Devils still had a 13-point spread, 53-40.
“At halftime, we talked about the basic fundamentals of handling the pressure,” Fogarty said. “We came out with a lot more energy.”
The Shires cut the Blue Devils’ lead to seven points with two minutes left in the game. But, with their slow opening, the Shires couldn’t recover as time ran out on them.
“I was very pleased with the ‘We won’t quit’ attitude displayed in the second half,” Fogarty said.
During the game, the Shires received quality minutes from the reserves — Ben Austin, Brandon McGuire and Jordan Bragan — who supported the starting cast.
“They will be key players down the road,” Fogarty added.
Ryan Hill fired in 24 points for Houlton, while Josh Beals added 10.
It wasn’t the way that Houlton coach Fogarty wanted his team to play in Fort Kent last Thursday with the tournament looming. The Shires were defeated 54-45.
“We struggled,” Fogarty said. “We need to give credit to Fort Kent as they played us tough and out hustled us on most loose balls.”
Fogarty said his Shires didn’t take care of the ball.
“That resulted in several forced and unforced turnovers,” he explained.
The Warriors led through first half play, 24-18 and then outscored the Shires, 15-10 in the third to increase their lead to 39-28 en route to the win.
For Houlton, Brown and Hill each had 15 points.
The Shiretowners have one game left on the regular season, tonight at 7 p.m. against visiting Caribou.
“The outcome of the game will probably not only have an impact on our Heal Point Standings, but it would be nice to pick up a win at home against a very good Class B school,” Fogarty said.
In the most recent standings, the Shires were ranked fifth, and may possibly face Orono in the first-round of the Class C tournament, a rematch from a year ago.
“Our goal is to make sure we stay healthy, so we are ready to play in the post season,” said Fogarty.
