The town of Caribou is home to just over 7,000 people. It felt like a good chunk of them were in Bangor Saturday night to cheer on their top-ranked boys and girls high school basketball teams.
And the fans had plenty of opportunities to cheer.
Both Vikings teams entered Saturday with 17-1 records. And both cruised to victory at the Cross Insurance Center, with the girls taking care of Presque Isle 50-31 earlier in the evening, and the boys running over a spirited but ultimately overmatched Belfast team 78-42 to end the night of North regional tournament action.
“It’s really good to get on the court knowing that you have your entire town behind you,” said senior guard Madelynn Deprey, who led the girls team with 21 points. “And you don’t want to let them down.”
Senior forward Tristen Robbins had 21 points of his own for the boys, including two dunks that got both his teammates and the Caribou fans roaring.
“They’re also a big part of our success,” Robbins said about those fans. “We have more fans sometimes than the home opposing team. We travel really well, and they give us a lot of momentum also.”
His dunks, and Deprey’s 3-point shooting, provided plenty of momentum on the court.
If there was a bit of rust shown at times by these top-seeded teams in Class B North, it was understandable. Along with their first round byes in the tournament, the Caribou teams missed practices this week because of snow and other bad weather. The boys team even had to deal with bus problems as part of their journey to Bangor. It’s a trip that takes nearly three hours, even without any roadside issues.
“We haven’t practiced since Wednesday because of the weather. I mean, our bus broke down on the way here, so we kind of had everything going wrong for us,” boys coach Kyle Corrigan said Saturday night. “But our guys responded really well.”
Girls coach Kayla Brown said her team “probably didn’t play our best game” and still has things to work on, but credited the group for sticking to their gameplan and said the older players showed their experience.
“Caribou travels really well,” Brown said when asked about the crowd support. “We have a ton of support from our community. It means a lot to the girls, it means a lot to all of us, just that everyone is excited for us, and happy for us, and rooting for us to do our best.”
And it wasn’t just the fans in the stands who were cheering on the Vikings. Plenty of folks back home in Caribou were tuning in as well. Area businessman Sam Collins and a group of friends watched Saturday’s action at a restaurant and bowling alley in the town. A lot of other people were doing the same, he said.
“Basketball has always been an important part of the culture in Aroostook County, and certainly Caribou,” Collins said during a phone interview between the two games. “And to have both the girls and the boys number one going into the tournament is exciting for the community.”
Along with being a basketball enthusiast and former player, Collins is also the brother of U.S. Senator Susan Collins.
“At least half the community is probably in Bangor watching the quarterfinals, and then the other half are glued to TV sets up here in the County,” he added. “So it’s an exciting time.”
In an interview at the Cross Center, Caribou Athletic Director Evan Graves spoke about the impact that community support can have on the student athletes.
“When it comes down to it, for these two basketball teams, they’ve put in that time and the grind, and having that community support helps give them a little bit more confidence to help with that success,” Graves said.
Senior forward Dawson St. Pierre said he has seen the community support get even better in recent years as the teams have improved.
“I think it means a lot because it really brings the community together,” he said when asked about both the boys and girls teams seeing success in the regular season. “So many people want to come watch basketball games, watch us play. It just means a lot to us as players too, because we have so much support.”
Asked if that support is present throughout every season, not just during 17-1 seasons for her team and the boys team, Brown said it absolutely is.
“And you mention that, it’s really cool that we both ended up 17-1, we both ended up in that one seed. And I think that’s really special,” Brown said. “That doesn’t always happen, where both of your teams are like that. And so probably we’ve gotten a little more support for that reason, and everybody seems to be really excited about it.”
Both Caribou teams will play again on Wednesday in the semifinals. Expect the Cross Center to be swarmed by Vikings fans.
“I think we have one of the best basketball communities out there,” said Corrigan, the boys coach. “Our stands are packed and we hold 1,200 in our gym, so we get a really, really good crowd. I love our community. They’ve given so much back to us, and we’re just trying to play as hard as we possibly can for them.”
