By Joseph Cyr
Sports Editor
BANGOR — Hopes of an epic upset were not to be for the Caribou boys basketball team Saturday evening at the Bangor Auditorium.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Trying to dribble away from Camden Hills’ Adam Landwehr is Viking Chad Caverhill. during Saturday’s tournament loss.
The Vikings (13-7) drew the nearly impossible task of facing top-ranked Camden Hills (19-0) in the quarterfinals. The Windjammers are the clear front-runners to win not only the Eastern Maine title for a second straight year, but the gold ball as well.
Caribou did their best to stick around with Camden Hills, but ultimately fell 79-44. The Windjammers face No. 5 Winslow (16-3) Wednesday at 8:35 p.m. in the semifinals.
Caribou coach Chris Casavant said there was no pressure on his team coming into the game and that he was proud of how his squad handled the situation.
“All we were trying to do was play hard for 32 minutes and not turn the ball over,” Casavant said. “I think we did a pretty good job for the most part, considering we really only play five guys. I am thoroughly impressed with how we played tonight.”
The scrappy Vikings made every effort to keep the game within reach, trailing 18-8 in the first quarter and 38-18 at the halftime break. It wasn’t until later in the fourth quarter that the Windjammers began to pad their lead.
Tyler McFarland, a 6-foot, 6-inch senior forward who was last year’s winner of the tourney MVP award and is a front-runner for this year’s Mr. Basketball award as the state’s top senior player, netted 29 points for the Windjammers. Joel Gabriele added 17; Keegan Pieri, nine; Adam Landwehr, six; Taylor Hall and Colin Morse, both five; Adam Carlsen and Nate Catell, each three; and Max Niles, two.
Staff photo/Joseph Cyr
Looking to take the ball down low is Caribou’s Stephen St. Peter during Saturday night’s Eastern Class B quarterfinal against Camden Hills. The Vikings fell 79-44.
Matt Till scored 23 points for Caribou, while Stephen St. Peter added 10; Chad Caverhill, seven; and Roland Thibodeau, four.
The Windjammers connected on 16-of-25 free throws (64 percent), while the Vikings made 13-of-18 (72 percent).
“It’s a great feeling to play a game on the floor of the Bangor Auditorium,” said Till, a senior guard for the Vikings. “We were disappointed the last few years, so this was good for us. I liked playing out there and did my best to just go out and have fun.”
“[Caribou] played hard, which doesn’t surprise me knowing coach Casavant,” said Camden Hills coach Jeff Hart. “They play hard, they’re disciplined in what they want to do and we’re used to the physical play.”
Basketball fans on both sides of the court came to life midway through the fourth quarter when Gabriele made a steal at midcourt and went up for what would have been an open layup. Instead, Gabriele flicked the ball off the glass to a trailing Pieri for a spectacular alley-oop dunk. That move brought the Camden Hills fans to their feet and even drew “oohs “ and “ahhhs” from the Vikings’ fans.
VIKINGS 8 10 14 12 —44
’JAMMERS 18 20 16 25 —79
