By Michael Hoffer
MaxPreps.com
The new year has featured several compelling hardwood showdowns in recent days with familiar names and teams continuing their dominance.
Boys Basketball: Stags, Capers Win Rivalry Games
The defending Class A boys basketball state champion Cheverus Stags have simply gotten better this season. The Stags had no trouble with their first seven league foes nor with the competition they faced over the holidays.
Saturday night brought Cheverus' first big test in the form of longtime rival Portland. The big, bad Bulldogs, led by senior Ed Bogdanovich, gave the Stags all they could handle, but down the stretch, the Stags got the job done at the free throw line (15 of 17 in the final period) to win 59-44.
Cheverus was paced by 23 points from senior standout Mick DiStasio. Portland got 10 points from junior Koang Thok. Bogdanovich was held to eight. The Bulldogs got as close as four points, 43-39, but the Stags, in true championship form, slammed the door shut.
The Stags are fifth and the Bulldogs sixth in the latest Western Class A Heal Points standings. Westbrook, which knocked South Portland from the unbeaten ranks before losing its first game to Thornton Academy, leads the standings. The Golden Trojans are second and the Red Riots third. Deering, which quietly remains a force, is fourth.
Monday night, in Cumberland, a highly anticipated Western B battle was controlled by the road team.
Cape Elizabeth, the defending Western B champion, visited a Greely squad riding an eight-game win streak. The Rangers would lead only once, 6-5, before the Capers closed the first period on a 13-3 run, capped by three free throws from senior Alex Bowe after the horn.
Cape Elizabeth, thanks in large part to Bowe's 18 first half points, stretched its lead to 16, 35-19, at halftime. The Rangers would get 32 second half points from senior Chris Young (who finished with 38) and pulled as close as five, 69-64, in the waning seconds, but the Capers held on for the win which left both squads 8-2 on the year.
“It's really nice to win this one,” Capers' coach Jim Ray said. “To lose to another contender would have put us in a tough place. We know we can beat a contender. We played well enough to do that. I'm very proud of the way the kids responded in the first half. Greely's a very good team.”
“We dug too deep a hole,” Greely coach Ken Marks said. “You can't let a kid like Bowe go off like that and expect to come back.”
Bowe finished with 23 points and senior Johnny Messina added 17.
Falmouth, which suffered its first loss, 60-51, at Lake Region last weekend, still leads the Heals. Greely is second, Lake Region third and Yarmouth fourth. The Capers are fifth, but appear to be rounding back into championship form.
“It's shaping up well for the end of the year,” Messina said. “I never really liked being the favorite. I'd rather be the underdog.”
Girls Basketball: Deering Wins Two More Biggies
Deering's girls faced a pair of huge road tests last week and passed them both to improve to 10-0.
First, the Rams went to Scarborough, which announced that it might be Deering's biggest challenger in the weeks to come. Deering trailed 14-9 in the second period before rallying to take a 22-18 halftime lead. Senior standout Diana Manduca then came to life, scoring all 12 of her team's third period points before hitting a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the fourth to help the Rams hold on for a 53-43 victory.
Manduca wound up with 25 points, while junior Christy Manning led the Red Storm with 15.
“I just wanted to lead the team and get them pumped up,” Manduca said. “I'm a senior this year. I see that as my job. We just wanted to come out and control the tempo and make it more of our running game. We definitely expected a battle. We knew it was a big game and that they'd come out strong and want to beat us. We knew we had to match their intensity. We like the intensity and like to play games like this. This was a good test.”
“I knew it wouldn't be easy,” Deering coach Mike Murphy added. “That's a quality team we beat here tonight. They have some nice guards. They can handle pressure. It was good for us to have to grind it out.”
Saturday, at Noble, the Rams led 13-10 after one and 21-15 at the half before opening things up with a 10-2 run in the third. Deering held on for a 36-25 win. Manduca led the way with 12 points.
Scarborough is second behind Deering in the latest Heals. Windham, which upset host McAuley 41-39 Friday on Riley Graves' layup in the waning seconds, is third. Biddeford, Noble, South Portland, Cheverus, Marshwood, Massabesic and McAuley are all in the mix as well.
In Western B, York remains the team to beat. The Wildcats are undefeated and have the top spot in the Heals. Greely is riding high in the second spot. Three-time defending regional champion Lake Region earned a big win at Falmouth Saturday to improve to 7-3. Cape Elizabeth won its fourth game (the first time the Capers have won that many in a season since 1999-2000) when they downed visiting Yarmouth Friday.
Hockey: Unpredictability Continues
Determining a favorite in boys ice hockey has proved difficult this winter. In Eastern A, Waterville, Brewer, Lewiston and Bangor are all competitive. Brewer and Lewiston have come south and handed traditional Western A power Falmouth losses on its home ice.
In the West, Thornton Academy leads the Heals, with Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland, Biddeford and Falmouth close behind. Portland and St. Dom's are also dangerous.
In Western B, Greely extended its win streak to six Monday with a 5-3 win over visiting York, the defending regional champion. The Rangers are the top team in the Heals, but they know that Cape Elizabeth lurks. Leavitt is a potential spoiler as well.
Michael Hoffer is the sports editor of The Forecaster, a family of weekly newspapers based in Falmouth. Michael can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net
