Easton boys put a scare in No. 1 seed Jonesport
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
BANGOR — Facing the top-ranked team in any sporting event is supposed to be a daunting task. Somebody forgot to mention that fact to the Easton boys basketball team.
UP STRONG — Easton’s Holden Turner, left, 
goes up for a shot as Jonesport-Beals’ Justin Alley defends.
The No. 8 Bears (15-5 overall) gave No. 1 Jonesport-Beals (17-2) all it could handle Monday evening in an Eastern Maine Class D quarterfinal, matching point-for-point in the first half of play. But a poor shooting effort in the third quarter proved the Bears undoing as Jonesport –Beals was able to hold on for a 57-42 victory.
With the win, the Royals advance to Thursday’s semifinal where they will face No. 4 Katahdin (15-5) at 3:35 p.m. The Cougars advanced to the semifinals via a 49-48 victory over No. 5 Hodgdon.
“We knew coming in that they (Jonesport-Beals) were extremely talented and we had to be tougher and more scrappy if we wanted to be in the game,” said first-year Easton coach Dillon Kingsbury. “We played with a lot of heart and pride here tonight and these guys should be proud of that.”
Reid Clark led the Bears with 15 points, while Jared Hafford added 11. For the Royals, Vinal Crowley netted 14, while Matthew Alley added 10.
“We knew we couldn’t match them in size, so we wanted to be more aggressive,” Kingsbury said.
The Bears were precisely that in the first half, matching the Royals point-for-point. Jonesport-Beals led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter and 27-25 at halftime.
Kingsbury said if someone had told him before the game that Jonesport-Beals would only score 27 points at halftime, he liked his chances of pulling out a victory. With Jonesport-Beals boasting a pair of 6-foot, 5-inch players in Justin Alley and Garret Beal, the Bears hoped to use their speed and quickness against a much larger Royals squad.
In the third period, Easton lost its shooting touch, scoring just two points, which allowed the Royals to amass a 38-27 lead that proved too much for the Bears to come back from.
Kingsbury said this year’s squad far exceeded any pre-season expectations he may have had coming into his first varsity coaching position.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” the coach said. “I wasn’t sure how they would respond to me, but I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys.”
EASTON (42)
Turner, Gray, Hafford 3 3-4 11, Bacon 4 0-0 8, Turner 1 0-2 2, Tompkins 2 1-2 6, Clark 5 5-6 15. Totals: 15 9-14 42. 3-pointers — Hafford 2.
JONESPORT-BEALS (57)
C. Beal 0 3-4 3, T. Beal 3 0-0 6, Crowley 5 1-2 14, Smith 4 0-1 8, J. Alley 4 0-5 8, G. Beal 4 0-0 8, M. Alley 5 0-0 10. Totals: 25 4-12 57. 3-pointers — Crowley 3.
Bears 13 12 2 15—42
Royals 15 12 11 19—57
