Deer Isle—The Deer Isle-Stonington High School boys basketball team closed out the regular season with a 55-45 win over Searsport on February 4.
The team was able to battle back from an early first-quarter deficit to a three-point lead at the half. Allen said the way his team came out in the third quarter made the difference in the second half.
“We’ve been having a tendency to come out of the locker room a little slow after halftime, but last night we went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter, which kind of set the tone for the rest of the game,” he said.
Seniors Myles Brown and Tobey Snow scored 18 and 12 points, respectively.
The win improves the Mariners’ record to 5-11 heading into the postseason. The team is currently in seventh place in the Class D North standings, which is where Allen says they will “most likely finish” after the final Heal Points are calculated.
In Class D, the top six teams get an automatic bye into the tournament at the Cross Insurance Center, while seventh through 10th battle it out in the preliminary rounds. If the standings stay as they are, the Mariners will take on Machias at home next week, with the winner continuing on to the tournament.
The Mariners beat Machias in both contests this year by double digits, but in the playoffs, anything can happen, said Allen.
“We’ll be going back to basics [for preparation],” he said. “We’re really young, and we still make inexperienced mistakes. We’ll need to work on fundamentals.”
The next week will be spent on that preparation, with the goal to go as deep into the postseason as they can.
“That’s what we want to do, hopefully get to the Cross [Insurance] Center and do some damage there,” said Allen.
The Mariner’s preliminary game is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, February 12.