Mariner Sam Knowlton sprints inside to score in a matchup with Machias January 27. By Jack Scott
Deer Isle—The boys basketball team shook off the rust from a long spell of not playing to beat Bucksport 55-40 January 22. Though we led the whole game, we didn’t pull away until the last quarter when we stretched our five-point lead into a good cushion. Bucksport was missing several starters when we first played them, so this was a tougher game. Nate Thompson and Coleman Brown led us with 16 points and Myles Brown had 14.
The boys easily beat Islesboro 78-27 on January 24. We led 52-7 at the half, and Coach Don Allen played mostly subs after that. These mismatches are not good for either team as it can make us lazy. Myles Brown had 32 points, Coleman Brown 10, and Gavin Eaton 8.
The boys lost to Machias 50-39 on January 27. Machias came ready to play and their aggressive moves to the basket got several of our players in foul trouble in the first half. They packed it in with a zone defense and we had trouble penetrating it. Our outside shooting wasn’t good, so we weren’t able to open up their defense.
It was a close battle until Machias pulled away to a 10-point lead in the third quarter. We ended the quarter with six points to trail by four. With about 4 minutes left, it was Machias who broke open the game with five baskets breaking down our defense inside the paint with clutch shots. We didn’t have any answers as we had unforced turnovers and missed our shots. Coleman Brown led us with 19 points despite carrying 4 fouls in the second half, Myles Brown 10 points, and Zach Billings 6.
The boys are 10-3 and still stuck in seventh place. We suffered from a long slack spell, but now we have five games in a week and a half. Two of them are against undefeated Jonesport and George Stevens. The others are against teams that are not worth many Heal points; so, unless we play a monster game, we will have to prove ourselves on the Bangor floor to make noise in the playoffs.