Hawks soared in playoffs

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — Is the Hodgdon boys basketball team peaking at just the right moment?
    Coach Rob Smith hopes so. And based on Wednesday night’s preliminary playoff performance it’s hard to argue with him.
    No. 5 Hodgdon (14-5 overall) scored early and often en route to a 68-38 thrashing of No. 13 Penobscot Valley (5-14).
    With the win, Hodgdon earned a trip to the Bangor Auditorium for its quarterfinal contest with No. 4 Katahdin (14-5). That game was played Monday afternoon. The two teams split during the regular season with Hodgdon earning a 65-52 road victory, but losing 62-53 at home to the Cougars.
GETS BY — Katahdin’s Bill Livezey drives by Hodgdon’s Josh Hudson during Monday’s quarterfinal round in Bangor.
    Hodgdon junior Josh Hudson led all players with 21 points. His younger brother Chris, a freshman, chipped in 14 points, while Tyler Sherman added 11; Nick Lunn, nine; Devon Logie, five; Erik Ryan, four; and Quinn Harris and Devin Quint, two each.
    For Penobscot Valley of Howland, Logan Jipson and Griffin Libby both netted 16 points. Robbie Hallett added four and Wyatt Foster, two.
    “The first quarter, it was fairly close,” coach Smith said. “But we were able to slowly pull away. They really struggled with foul trouble tonight, which played to our advantage.”
    PVHS struggled mightily with foul trouble throughout the contest. In fact, four of the team’s starting five fouled out before the final buzzer sounded. Jipson, arguably the Howlers’ best scoring option, had two fouls in the first three minutes of action.
    “We knew Jipson and Libby were their scorers, but he got in foul trouble early,” Smith said.
    Howland scored the game’s first points off an open layup by Hallett, but then it was all Hodgdon as the Hawks scored 13 unanswered points to take command of the game.
    By the end of the first quarter, the Hawks enjoyed a 13-5 advantage, and that edge quickly grew to 22-5 in the early moments of the second quarter as Chris Hudson opened the frame with a 3-pointer, followed by an offensive putback by Josh Hudson, and two straight layups from Lunn and Sherman off turnovers.
REBOUND — Katahdin’s Jesse McNally goes up for a rebound against Hodgdon during the EM Class D quarterfinal game on Monday.
    By halftime, the Hawks held a 33-17 lead, but Howland made a brief run to start the third period, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Libby that cut the lead to 37-25 in favor of the Hawks. Hodgdon regained its composure, and its sizable lead, midway through the third stanza and rolled to the easy victory.
    Hodgdon was 15 of 25 from the free throw line (60 percent), while the Howlers made 12 of 19 foul shots (63 percent).