Two of Wednesday’s best North tournament matchups feature teams that are very familiar with each other.
Neighboring Orono and Old Town will clash for the third time this year in a 7 p.m. Class B boys game at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The third-ranked Red Riots from Orono took both wins in the regular season series, most recently spoiling No. 7 Old Town’s senior night on Feb. 5 with a 60-48 victory.
Wednesday will also include a third showdown between Class A rivals Brewer and Hampden Academy at 7 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center. The No. 2 Hampden boys won both matchups against No. 3 Brewer earlier in the season.
Old Town punched its ticket to Wednesday’s B North semifinal game with an upset win over second-ranked Ellsworth on Friday night. Both Brewer and Hampden barely escaped the quarterfinals to set-up their third meeting. And Orono is looking to continue a dominant run in Class B.
Orono attempting a three-peat
The Red Riots are hoping to take home a third straight championship. Orono has won the past two state Class B titles.
“We have to go one game at a time,” Orono senior forward Will Francis told the Bangor Daily News after the team’s previous win against Old Town, when asked about the prospect of defending those titles. “We just have to push ourselves to a higher limit that we know we can achieve. I think if we push ourselves, we can get there if we really go one game at a time.”
After last week’s win over sixth-ranked Hermon to start the tournament, Orono coach Ed Kohtala highlighted how players on this year’s Red Riots team have had to step into more prominent roles after seeing past teammates shoulder the primary action.
“We’ve been growing, I think, a lot as a team,” Kohtala said Friday night. “We have guys in such new roles, whether they’re leadership, instead of complementary being primary scorers, and none of those things, I don’t think, come necessarily easily.”
Kohtala also highlighted the defensive efforts of senior forward Noah Schaff inside against Hermon’s senior center Maddox Kinney that night. Schaff’s defensive prowess will likely be called upon again Wednesday as the Red Riots attempt to contain Old Town star forward Emmitt Byther.
The key for Old Town
We highlighted Byther’s dominance earlier this week, and for good reason. He’s the kind of player who impacts the game every minute that he’s on the floor. The senior forward led the Coyotes in scoring against Ellsworth and helped lock up the upset with strong foul shooting.
He’ll get the most attention Wednesday night, but as against Ellsworth, the key moments for Old Town might not come from its best player.
If the Coyotes are going to take down their rival and end their reign as Class B champs, Old Town’s young group of guards will likely have to keep stepping up. Sophomore guard Ethan Closson hit the two biggest shots in the team’s last game. Sophomore guard and forward Tyler Priest and freshman guard Jack DeGrasse can both get going from beyond the arc, and whether that happens Wednesday might end up being the difference in this game.
Broncos’ experience
Like the Orono squad, Hampden Academy has been here before. The Broncos won the Class A North regional title last year before falling to Gray-New Gloucester in the state championship.
Heading into the tournament, Hampden coach Russ Bartlett said that leaning on his players with playoff experience would be key, especially in the team’s first round game. Hampden survived that game thanks in part to veterans such as senior guard Aidan Kochendoerfer and junior forward Liam Henaghen, and their offensive production coupled with strong team defense might once again prove to be the difference this round.
Henaghen’s older brother, Andy, is the Broncos’ workhorse. It may not show up in Wednesday’s stat line, but expect the senior forward to be all over the floor.
Nose for the ball
Steven Youngs provided one of the plays of the tournament thus far in Brewer’s quarterfinal win over Mount Blue, with a late steal and dunk that helped propel the Witches to their 61-60 win. And the senior guard did it with a mask on, having just broken his nose in an exhibition game last week.
Youngs’ play Wednesday could similarly be key for Brewer. Youngs was fairly quiet in the previous matchup with Hampden, until he went off for 12 points in the fourth quarter.
The freshman factor
Brewer freshman Oli Higgins led all scorers in the Witches’ first round game on Saturday with 22 points, and don’t be surprised if he does so again Wednesday. The 6-foot-7 Higgins didn’t have his best game when Brewer lost to Hampden on Jan. 31, but look for him to play a bigger role the third time around.
