Sophomore Nate Grunkemeyer scored 17 points on Saturday night as the Bangor Rams boys returned to the high school basketball tournament stage. And 11 of those were in the fourth quarter.
That clutch offensive production down the stretch has earned Grunkemeyer Saturday’s honors for the Bangor Daily News top tourney performance.
“They told me to be aggressive, and that’s what I did,” Grunkemeyer said after Bangor’s 54-43 win in Augusta.
His 11 points in the final period included a big 3-pointer.
“We were able to move the ball, get the defense moving, and then I got a kick out,” Grunkemeyer said. “Got an open shot, and I was able to knock it down.”
The sophomore led the Rams in both scoring and rebounding during the regular season. He and his Bangor teammates have been orchestrating a drastic turnaround this season after winning just one game in each of the previous two seasons. They now have at least one win in the playoffs this year, and 11 total so far on the season.
And they extended that run Saturday with their comeback win over Lewiston.
“The biggest part was to be in control. We don’t want to get sped up, we don’t want to turn the ball over,” Grunkemeyer said. “We just want to play under control, and we were able to do that and come back.”
