Third-quarter run propels MDI boys
Sports Editor
CARIBOU — Facing a team one has already beaten can sometimes come back to bite a squad. Case in point, the Caribou boys’ preliminary playoff against Mount Desert Island Wednesday evening.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Making a valiant effort to keep the ball in play is Caribou’s Chris Nadeau, left, as MDI’s Ben Walls defends during the preliminary playoff game played at CHS. The Vikings fell, 44-39.
No. 8 Caribou (12-7) fell 44-39 to the visiting No. 9 Trojans of Mount Desert Island (11-8) in a preliminary playoff. MDI advanced to face No. 1 Camden Hills (16-2) Saturday in the quarterfinals. Earlier in the season, Caribou easily beat MDI 42-29 at Caribou.
Senior Cameron Anderson paced the Vikings with 11 points, while senior Chris Nadeau added nine. Sophomore Caleb MacDonald led MDI with 17 points, including nine in the third quarter. Freshman Ben Walls added 11 and sophomore Jayson Burke 10 for the Trojans.
“The shots didn’t fall for us tonight,” Caribou coach Chris Casavant said. “We were 15-of-44 (34 percent) from the floor. We made a lot of mental errors tonight.”
Caribou came out flat to start both halves of Wednesday’s game, but it was the sluggish start to the second half that proved most costly.
After taking a 17-13 lead into the locker room, Caribou watched MDI rattle off 10 unanswered points to open the second half and take a 23-17 lead. That MDI run featured a pair of remarkable baskets by MacDonald, including a sweeping reverse layup and a scoop shot from about 6-feet away from the basket.
The Vikings did not score until nearly 4:30 had ticked off the clock in the third period when Anderson broke up the Trojan run with a 3-pointer. Caribou came close to bridging the scoring deficit on a couple of occasions, but was never able to regain the lead.
“We talked a lot about some of the basic things that we try to do offensively,” MDI coach Justin Norwood said. “One of the things we pride ourselves on is our back-cuts, which help with layups and getting guys open. That’s what we focused on in the second half.”
Caribou scrapped its way back into the game late in the fourth quarter, making it a one possession game with 2:05 remaining after Anderson drained a jumper off a screen. MDI quickly answered as Jayson Burke threw in a floating jumper making it 40-35 with 1:48 to go.
Anderson again stepped up his game and this time converted a bank shot off the glass with 1:19 to play, cutting the lead to 40-37. The Vikings then immediately employed a full-court press, forcing MDI to take a time out.
After the break, MDI was able to break Caribou’s press and Walls managed to break free along the baseline for a basket and foul. He made the free throw, pushing the lead to 43-37 with 1:03 to play.
“We didn’t get back in time,” Casavant said. “When we get beat, we do a poor job of executing. We didn’t match their intensity at the defensive end.”
The coach added MDI was a much better team than the last time the two met in the regular season.
Neither team made it to the foul line very often. MDI converted five of 12 free throws (42 percent), while Caribou was five of nine from the line (56 percent).
MDI scored the first three points of the game and led by 9-4 at one point. Caribou cut the lead to 9-7 to end the quarter when Anderson scored on a layup off a steal and Nadeau made one of two foul shots.
The Vikings took their first lead of the game late in the second quarter when Nadeau scored on a layup with 4:17 to play. Both teams went cold from the floor in the final four minutes, with Viking senior Ted Walker sinking a jumper with about one minute to play, giving Caribou its 17-13 halftime lead.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Taking the ball to the hoop is Caribou’s Matt Till, right, as MDI’s Jayson Burke defends. Caribou dropped last Wednesday’s preliminary playoff matchup, 44-39.
