George Stevens Academy senior Isaac Wardwell takes the ball down the floor. By Monique Labbe
Blue Hill—George Stevens Academy junior Caden Mattson knocked down two clutch free throws with four seconds to go to give the Eagles basketball team the 49-47 win over the Bucksport Bucks on December 18 in Blue Hill.
After losing to Ellsworth the game before, George Stevens Academy came out charging early, led by a 13-point first half by senior Isaac Wardwell. While the Bucks dominated the boards for much of the first 16 minutes of play, the Eagles were still able to take a 26-13 lead into halftime.
For head coach Dwayne Carter, coming out strong from the first whistle was important.
“It was an important game for us, we were at home and we needed to come out strong and play tough [defense],” said Carter after the game.
George Stevens Academy junior Caden Mattson passes the ball off. By Monique Labbe
The team managed to play suffocating defense through the first three quarters, but a Bucksport bucket with 6:25 left in the fourth cut the Eagle lead to eight and started a Bucks comeback that found George Stevens Academy down by two with 2:37 left in the game. The game was tied with 50 seconds to go, and the Eagles defended on an out of bounds play at half court. The suffocating defense returned by George Stevens Academy, and the team forced a five second call and got the ball back. Bucksport got a defensive stop of its own the following play, forcing a turnover and getting the ball back with 20 seconds left. Their offense was unable to score, though, and the Bucks were called for the foul that would send Mattson to the line to seal the victory.
“Overall I think it was a great game for us,” said Carter. “We didn’t always execute as well as we would have wanted, and we settled for some outside shots that came back to bite us a little bit, but when we went inside we were very successful, and we knew that was what we needed to do.”
Wardwell led the Eagles with 17 points on the night, while senior Percy Zentz contributed a double-double with 11 points and 12 boards.
The three-time defending state champions are now 3-1 on the season, and will travel to Sumner on December 20 before hosting back-to-back home games against Calais on December 27 and Central on December 29.
George Stevens Academy senior Percy Zentz drives hard to the basket during a home game against Bucksport on December 18. By Monique Labbe