Katahdin mount comebacks, but not enough

By Gloria Austin  
Staff Writer
    The Katahdin varsity girls and boys made mounted comebacks in both of their Class D quarterfinal games, but both teams ended up coming up just short of a win.
 SHOT – Katahdin’s Brandon Robinson goes up for a shot during Monday’s Class D tournament at the Bangor Auditorium. Robinson scored 17 points in the game against Central Aroostook, but the Cougars late comeback wasn’t enough as they lost,
   Back-to-back 3-pointers from Melissa Duffy and Olivia McNally put a scare into the Fort Fairfield Tigers on Saturday night in Bangor.
    Despite the late rally, the Lady Cougars’ postseason run ended with a 53-49 loss to Fort Fairfield, who will go on to face Southern Aroostook in the Class D semifinals at 2:05 p.m. tomorrow at the Bangor Auditorium.
    The Lady Cougars opened up with a 7-0 lead on Fort Fairfield, but the Tigers bounced back tying the game and then forging a head for a 29-24 halftime advantage.
    “They seemed to be a little nervous at first,” said Katahdin coach Terry Duffy of Fort Fairfield. “But, once they got settled in …”
    The score seesawed back and forth until Fort Fairfield exploited Katahdin’s weakness … their lack of height.
NO TIME TO CRY – Katahdin’s Jalisa Moore is flanked by coaches Terry Duffy, left, and Phil Faulkner at Saturday night’s Class D quarterfinal game. Moore played a solid season for the Lady Cougars, but fouled out of the quarterfinal game against Fort Fairfield. The three share one more laugh, as Moore graduates this year.
    “The difference was no. 45 [freshman Amanda Hotham],” said Duffy. “She pounded us on the boards. They are bigger and they beat us on boards.”
    Behind Hotham and company, the Lady Tigers put some distance between themselves and Katahdin building a 12-point lead at the 3:10 mark of the third period.
    “We knew at that point, we had to make a run back,” said Duffy. “We had trouble with their half-court set. We did the first two games. They play really tough defense. We were trying all kinds of set plays, but basically, we figured we’d better spread them out because our inside game is not real strong. So, we spread them out, dribble and drive to the basket, drawing some fouls. That worked pretty good and then we got our 3’s going and we caused a couple of turnovers.”
    With 54 seconds, the Lady Tigers desperately held on to a 49-43 lead. On Katahdin’s possession after  a missed 1-and-1 by Fort, Duffy released a shot and let it fly from behind the arc …. swish … to bring Katahdin to within three, 49-46.
    “Melissa is reluctant to shoot,” said Duffy. “She’s a good shooter. We have to convince her of that every game.”
TWO POINTS – Katahdin’s Ethan Qualey, left, goes up for a layup, while at right, Matt McAvoy hangs on to the ball and goes up for a shot during the Class D quarterfinalgame against Central Aroostook. The Panthers went on to win, 70-64, holding off a late rally by the Cougars.
    Players on both sides were facing plenty of foul problems, but Jalisa Moore succumbed in the last 41 seconds. However, the Lady Cougars didn’t quit.
     On the next play, Duffy fouled Fort Fairfield’s Courtney Churchill, who made both free throws to extend the Tigers’ lead, 51-46. However, Katahdin’s McNally pushed the ball down the court and let one fly from the line for another 3-pointer to draw the Lady Cougars to within a hoop with 22 seconds left. But, it wasn’t meant to be as a Katahdin turnover and Fort Fairfield free throws sealed the game.    
    Katahdin’s McNally finished with 16 points, while Duffy and Moore each had 12 points apiece.
    The Lady Tigers were led by Hotham with 19 points and 19 rebounds.
    “They played well,” Duffy said of the Lady Tigers. “But, we came back and I’m proud of the girls.”
    The Lady Cougars graduate only Moore from their roster, but Duffy added, “We will miss her. We will have everyone back and with some freshman, hopefully, we will do good next year.”
Cougars run out of time
    On Monday, the Cougars faced a tough Central Aroostook Panther squad for the third time this season so there were no secrets between the teams.
Katahdin’s Olivia McNally looks to drive.
    “They killed us the first half,” said senior Evan McCarthy. “Manny was dropping the 3 balls out there. We didn’t have an answer for a few minutes, but overall, we feel like we played well. It was good to come down and give them a close game and make a run at the end.”
    Katahdin coach Shawn Craig said in a pre-game interview if his Cougars couldn’t beat the Panthers’ pressure, they wouldn’t win. The Panthers applied relentless pressure, but the Cougars withstood and made a late run at the Panthers, coming up shy of a win, 70-64.
    “We tried to put as much pressure on as possible,” said Martinez of the Panthers. “We took a lot of time on offense and ran some time down [in the fourth]. They played hard, they fought back and played with heart out there. This game actually could have gone either way, we all just played hard.”
    The Panthers broke the game open in the second quarter behind the sharp-shooting Manny Martinez who  scored 11 of his game-high 21 points making two free throws and hitting three, 3-pointers to close out the half, giving Central Aroostook breathing room, 38-24.
Alicia Majowski goes up strong.
    The Panthers’ harassing defense caused multiple Katahdin turnovers in the first half.
    “We absolutely did not handle their pressure to start the game,” said Katahdin’s Craig. “In the second half, we outscored them by 10 points. We handled the pressure a lot better, but then we got into foul trouble.”
    The Cougars had two of their starters foul out of the game late, guards Lucas Craig and Ethan Qualey, when the Cougars were rallying.
    “We made a good run at them,” said Craig, “but we dug too big a hole for ourselves.”
    The Panthers extended their lead to 17 points in the fourth, 53-38 before Katahdin made its move behind a 3-pointer by Qualey, free throws by Josh Guiggey and McCarthy to pull the Cougars to within striking distance, 50-55 with 2:45 left.
    “We picked up our defense and we settled down, running our plays and we got them out of synch a little bit with our press,” explained Craig. “They seemed to be a little bit rattled. We let them stall the ball a little bit and then we started going right at them and that took them out of their game for just a little bit. They weren’t shooting the ball as well, so I think our defense put us back into it. But it was a little too late.”
    A key in Katahdin’s run was 6-8 Matt McAvoy off the bench.
    “We switched him in and out,” said Craig. “We wanted him in offensively. We didn’t work the ball into him nearly as much as we had planned on. We tried, but they did a good job defensively surrounding him. Matt was a big reason we mounted the comeback.”
    McCarthy agreed. “He’s a big body and they had no one who matched up well with him.”
    However,  the free throw line was a lifesaver for Central, who pushed their lead to 59-50 behind free throws by Mitch Folsom and Martinez.
  Melissa Duffy lets a 3-pointer fly against Fort Fairfield.
    With over a minute to play, Katahdin’s McCarthy was fouled on a 3-point shot and sank all three free throws. Kolby Gallagher lit up the crowd with a 3-pointer and McAvoy made an old-fashion three-point play to cut the lead to 67-62. A Brandon Robinson layup with 10 seconds left drew Katahdin to within four, 68-64. But, time ran out on the Cougars, as the Panthers hit 3-of-4 from the line.
    The difference in the final period for Central Aroostook was their free-throw shooting. The Panthers made 13-of-15 foul shots down the stretch, 15-of-18 in the fourth to secure the win.
    Robinson posted 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Katahdin, while Guiggey netted 14 points and McCarthy added 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
    Caleb Kelly had 12 points for Central Aroostook, while Kasey Brewer tossed in 10 and Logan McLaughlin added eight points, seven assists and six rebounds.