Sports Editor
WASHBURN — It was a season of ups and downs for the Washburn junior varsity boys basketball team under the guidance of coach Mike Hartford. The Beavers started hot, but struggled the rest of the way, finishing the year with a 3-14 record.
Members of the Washburn junior varsity boys basketball team include, front row from left, Kyle McLaughlin, Kyle Huston, Jeremy Hartsgrove, John Helton and Anthony Viola; and back, Phillip Helton, Justin Farley, Zach Davis, Andrew McLaughlin, Nick Bragg and coach Mike Hartford. Not pictured is Mikey Forand.
Washburn started its season with 11 players —senior John Helton; juniors Phillip Helton and Kyle Huston; sophomores Kyle McLaughlin, Anothony Viola, Jeremy Hartsgrove, Zach Davis; and freshmen Nick Bragg, Mikey Forand, Andrew McLaughlin and Justin Farley.
“Our season began with a 48-45 win over Presque Isle’s JVII team at home,” coach Hartford said. “It looked like we might have a promising season.”
Forand played just one game with the Beavers before suffering a broken foot that forced him to miss the remainder of the season. The Beavers also lost two additional players due to academic ineligibility for three weeks.
“We lost the next five games by an average of 20 points a game over that span and those players returned to play in a 28-point loss to Southern Aroostook on Dec. 29,” the coach said.
Bragg was then called up to the varsity squad fulltime, further affecting the team’s depth.
“We lost five more games through January to bring our losing streak to 11 games since our first game win,” coach Hartford said. “The next few weeks truly capped off the season.”
The Beavers finished 2-3 in their final five games.
“Our Jan. 28 home game versus Limestone was a huge turning point,” the coach said. “We had lost in Limestone on Jan. 6, 59-26 and had an injury and foul trouble throughout. We won 36-33 after trailing 21-16 at the half.”
“The guys realized that tough defense leads to wins,” the coach said.
Two nights later, the Beavers hosted Central Aroostook. The Beavers led by one at the half and opened up an 11-point lead after three quarters to win 46-33. Huston had a career-best 24 points to lead the team offensively.
“This was the first win against Central Aroostook for our jayvee program in at least five years,” coach Hartford said.
Washburn was unable to keep that momentum going against Fort Fairfield Feb. 1. After trailing by only one point at the half, the Tigers roared to a 14-point lead by the end of the third period.
“We all but erased their lead, and had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer with a three in the corner that was just a little too wide, losing 43-40,” Hartford said. “We had previously lost to them 61-42 on Jan. 26.”
Davis led the team in scoring with 21 points in the loss.
The next night, Washburn traveled to Van Buren and lost for the second time this season to the Crusaders.
“We never found the focus and intensity on the defensive end that had transformed us into a competitive team that night,” Hartford said. “We lost 59-33 and allowed four Van Buren players to score in double digits.”
The Beavers finished their season at Fort Fairfield Feb. 4. The Tigers broke an 8-8 tie at the end of the first quarter and took a 22-12 lead at the half.
Fort Fairfield stole a pass at the end of the third and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend the lead to 28-20 at the end of the third period. Washburn battled back to tie the game, but lost in the end.
Huston led the team in scoring with 11 points per game, while center Davis added 8.5 per game and guard Kyle McLaughlin contributed six points per game. Huston topped 10 points in 10 of 17 games on the season with one game scoring more than 20 points.
“It was nice to see the team turn around and start playing better at the end of the season,” Hartford said. “It was sad to see it end. I only wish they had played up to their potential earlier in the season.”
