Staff Writer
It was a remake of last year’s Class C semifinal game, and the outcome the same.
The Houlton Shiretowners hung around for three quarters, but Calais’ Rod Tirrel spearheaded a Blue Devils’ offense that pulled away for a 65-51 semifinal win over Houlton last Friday afternoon at the Bangor Auditorium.
Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
OVER ‘D’ – Houlton’s Abe Carmichael elevates for a shot over Calais defense during last Saturday’s Class C semifinal game.
A 77-54 win over Lee Academy for the Eastern Maine Class C championship Saturday gave the Blue Devils their 63rd straight win.
“Calais is extremely talented,” said Houlton coach Mike Fogarty. “They are well coached and disciplined. They also play very unselfish.”
A year ago, the Shires lost 54-45.
“Calais shot extremely well early on, which put us in a hole,” Fogarty explained. “We have had some success against them in the past with packing in our 2-3 zone. We started out man-to-man just to get rid of the butterflies …”
Tirrel (23 points) pushed Calais’ lead to seven points to begin the second after hitting the third of his four 3-pointers in the game, 17-10. Tirrel’s last 3-pointer of the game coupled with Jordan Leeman’s trey extended the Blue Devils’ lead, 23-14 with 3:07 left to intermission.
It was Parker Brown and James Bates who shouldered the scoring for Houlton in the second, as Brown had four points and Bates another six points. But, the Shiretowners didn’t resign. In about a two-minute span ending the first half and opening the second, the Shires’ behind a Bates’ layup and the solid play of senior Josh Beals – two free throws and a crucial 3-pointer— drew Houlton to within three points, 26-23.
Unwavering, the Blue Devils went on a 7-0 surge to open their biggest lead of the game, 33-23 with five minutes to go in the third behind floor leader Sam Bell’s four points.
In a minute span, Beals was saddled with his third personal foul at the 3:16 mark of the third, but he didn’t hesitate in his play, as he took a feed from Ryan Hill in the lane to score and go to the free throw to add another point to chip away at Calais’ lead, 39-30 to end the third.
Stepping again to the forefront, Calais’ Bell hit two free throws before Tirrel ran off six unanswered points, working inside and out, giving the Blue Devils their largest lead of the game, 50-36 and putting distance between the teams.
To close out the game, the teams swapped points, 15-all, as Houlton went 8-for-10 from the stripe. Abe Carmichael scored six of the 15 points and Ben Austin connected on a 3-pointer.
“I am very proud of this team,” Fogarty said. “We play a very tough schedule night-in and night-out and the boys competed every time they stepped on the court.”
JUMPER – Houlton’s Ryan Hill takes a baseline jumper over Calais’ Sam Bell during last Friday’s Class C semifinal game at the Bangor Auditorium.
Seniors Carmichael finished with 12 points, while Beals had 11 points and seven boards; Hill tossed in nine points and grabbed five boards and had five steals; Brown added eight points and six assists and Ben Austin hit a 3-pointer. Junior Bates finished with eight points.
“We are losing five seniors, who made great contributions this year,” Fogarty said. “But, we also have some extremely talented players returning for next season. The future is bright … it just depends on how hard those returning players want to work between now and next November.”
In last Tuesday’s Class C quarterfinal, the Shiretowners squashed the Orono Red Riots, 55-38 behind their interior presence and board control.
The Shiretowners outrebounded Orono 11-5 in the opening period and 29-21 for the game.
“We knew that they were going to play aggressively, so we needed to use that to our advantage and be as aggressive on the offensive end as they were on the defensive end,” said Fogarty. “Parker was able to beat their pressure and attack the basket.”
The Shiretowners wasted no time establishing themselves, despite falling into early foul trouble, as Beals was tagged for two personals in the opening period. Houlton went on a 7-0 spurt behind inside penetration from Bates and Brown for a 9-3 advantage.
Carmichael had on offensive putback and banked in a baseline shot before Hill drained a 3-pointer to give Houlton a 16-8 opening lead.
The second period belonged to Brown, who drove his way to nine first-half points. After a Brown steal to start the second, Brandon McGuire hit a shot from the elbow. Brown then would split the defense for a layup before Carmichael hit from the baseline. Hill would penetrate, dish to Brown for another layup and Brown would drive the middle to give Houlton a 26-17 halftime lead.
“We have historically not played a lot of man-to-man defense, Orono had scouted us a couple of times and we played zone, so I was hoping that they would expect us to play zone,” Fogarty explained. “Our man-to-man is pretty good, we just rebound better out of our zone. The decision was to start out man and see what would happen, I believe it caught them a little off guard and we were successful.”
The offensive attack would continue in the second half, as Houlton built a 44-25 lead midway through the fourth after a 14-3 run.
SPLITS ‘D’ – Houlton’s Josh Beals splits Calais defenders Cal Shorey and Rod Tirrel during the Class C semifinal game at the Auditorium.
Houlton shot 50 percent from the field, as all five starters, along with their supporting cast, played their roles.
“The original plan was for Ryan to cover Dwyer, but due to him not being able to practice we had to make some adjustments,” Fogarty explained.
Instead, Bates was called on for the task to guard Orono’s 1,000-point scorer, and he rose to the challenge, holding Dwyer to eight points through three quarters — an opening 3-pointer, two offensive putbacks and a free throw before he scored eight more in the final four minutes of the game.
Brown and Hill each finished with 13 points, while Carmichael tossed in 11. Beals came away with nine points and Bates with seven.
“Our goal at the beginning of the season was to make it to Bangor and take it one game at a time,” Fogarty said. “There is no reason to hang our heads.”
