MCI boys basketball team pulls away from Foxcroft

By Ernie Clark, Bangor Daily News Staff

PITTSFIELD — A youthful Foxcroft Academy boys basketball team hung with host Maine Central Institute until the final minutes Friday evening, Jan. 29 before falling to the Huskies 64-45 at Wright Gymnasium in Pittsfield.

The game was a rematch of last year’s Class B North preliminary-round game, when No. 6 MCI outlasted 11th-ranked Foxcroft 75-69.

But while MCI returns six seniors to its team this winter, Foxcroft’s roster boasts just three seniors along with a junior, three sophomores and five freshmen.

The Ponies were playing just their second game of the season — both this week after the team was shut down for 10 days due to COVID-19 concerns — while MCI entered the game having already played five of its 12 regular-season contests.

Yet Foxcroft trailed just 47-41 through three quarters and 52-45 with five minutes before MCI senior guard Timur Sabic made the game’s decisive basket, a 3-pointer from the left corner off an assist from senior forward Gavin McArthur.

Sabic then added another deep 3-pointer to extend the Huskies’ lead to 58-45 as MCI scored the game’s final 12 points.

Sabic finished with a game-high 28 points, while McArthur and sophomore forward Max Bottenfield added 12 points each for MCI, now 3-3 on the season.

Senior forward Logan Martin paced 0-2 Foxcroft with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, while classmate Lucas Ames made four 3-pointers en route to a 14-point performance.

Foxcroft scored the game’s first five points on a 3-pointer by Martin and a jumper from the lane by sophomore forward Caden Crocker.

The Ponies remained hot against MCI’s man-to-man defense for much of the first quarter, building its lead to as much as 17-7 with seven unanswered points thanks to another 3-pointer by Martin, a follow-up basket by senior forward Brad Whitten and a mid-range jumper by sophomore guard Cameron Chase.

MCI eventually switched to a zone defense and concluded the opening period with an 11-3 run — including eight points by Sabic — to draw within 20-18 entering the second quarter.

Sabic added nine points and McArthur scored five over the next eight minutes while MCI also made 7 of 8 free-throw tries to outscore Foxcroft 23-9 and build a 41-29 halftime advantage.

Foxcroft limited MCI to just three field goals during the third quarter using two 3-pointers by Martin and a third by Ames to reduce its deficit to six points entering the game’s final eight minutes.