Greenville defeats A.R. Gould in D South championship; Lakers to face Machias Saturday for the Gold Ball

AUGUSTA — Despite being the regional championship between the top two seeded teams in the Class D South boys’ bracket, No. 1 Greenville High School more than doubled up second seed A.R. Gould High School of South Portland on the scoreboard, 69-33, on Feb. 25 at the Augusta Civic Center. The Lakers (20-1) had the team’s second-most prolific scoring output of 2016-17 and second largest margin of victory in 21 contests.
“Defense, that was our mantra all year and they brought it today,” Greenville head coach Bill Foley said after his team won its 20th straight game of the season. The Bears fell to 17-4.
A.R. Gould would score on a 3-pointer by senior Issak Aliyow shortly after the team won the tip-off. The second-seeded team would not score again until the first 31 seconds of the second quarter had elapsed as Greenville went on a 16-0 run in-between.
Laker junior Nick Foley, who after the contest was selected as the Class D South’s most outstanding player, said Greenville was not expecting the game to be as lopsided as it turned out to be. “They’re a good team, we knew it would be a battle,” he said, with a cut-down net draped around his neck and the game ball in his grasp. “We were expecting a fight and we were ready.”
Foley scored a game-high 25 points and he picked up his first seven in the opening quarter, on a shot from behind the 3-point line, a jumper and a pair of free throws following an A.R. Gould technical.
Aliyow, who led the Bears with 16 points, would hit another 3-pointer to start the second quarter to make the game 16-6 but a 17-6 run helped Greenville build a 33-12 halftime lead. Foley would score all five of his second-quarter points on foul shots and junior Devin Boone picked up six of his 12 points in the second eight-minute session.
Boone and Foley were joined in double-figures by classmate Connor DiAngelo who contributed 13 points of his own. The Laker starting five, which includes juniors Noah Pratt and Evan Bjork for an all-Class of 2018 lineup, accounted for 64 of the team’s 69 points (nearly 93 percent).
Despite having a 21-point cushion to work with, the Lakers kept the foot on the gas to start the second half with 18 points before the Bears connected on a shot from the floor (at which point the game was 54-15).
Foley entered the game approaching the 1,000-point milestone. He scored 12 points in the opening half and then had four in the third quarter before a 3-pointer enabled him to pick up his 1,000th point in a Laker uniform. The public address announcer told the crowd of Foley’s accomplishment as he was met with a brief applause before play quickly resumed,
“It was in the back of my mind, but we tried to not let it distract us,” Foley said. “It’s all great, I feel very honored and it’s surreal to me,” he said about winning the first boys’ basketball regional title in school history, being named the top player in the Class D South tourney and surpassing 1,000 points all on the same afternoon.
Greenville will face Class D North champion Machias Memorial High School in the state championship on Saturday, March 4 at 2:45 p.m. in Bangor at the Cross Insurance Center. Despite being in different regions, the Lakers and Bulldogs played twice in the regular season as the home team won each game.
Following a 57-45 defeat in Washington County to open the year, Greenville has won 20 in a row including a home 49-47 victory on Jan. 21 to hand the 20-1 Bulldogs the team’s only defeat.
“That’s the benefit to having the schedule we did, we played a lot of northern Maine teams,” Foley — who like most of his teammates was part of a soccer team that reached the Class D championship last fall — said. “We know what to expect.”

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
REGIONAL CHAMPS — Greenville juniors Nick Foley (5) and Connor DiAngelo and head coach Bill Foley, left, and coach Joe Pelletier show their fans the newly-won plaque signifying the Lakers as the 2017 champions of Class D South. The Lakers rolled past AR Gould 69-33 on Feb. 25 at the Augusta Civic Center to advance to the first boys’ basketball state final in school history.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
HOLY FOLEY — Junior Nick Foley drives past AR Gould senior Issak Aliyow on Saturday during the Class D South final in Augusta. Foley was named the outstanding player of the Class D South tourney and during the regional final he surpassed the 1,000-point milestone on a 3-pointer in the third quarter.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
SHOCK AND AWE — Laker junior Evan Bjork shoots around AR Gould senior John Clement while junior teammate Connor DiAngelo and AR Gould seniors Issak Aliyow (22) and Tyrese Collins (3) look on. Greenville would lead 16-3 after the first quarter, 33-12 at the half and 60-19 at the end of the third to win 69-33.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
TUSSLE FOR A REBOUND — Junior Devin Boone and AR Gould senior Gage Barton fight for a rebound, with Greenville junior Connor DiAngelo nearby, during Saturday’s regional final. The Lakers will face Machias for the Gold Ball at 2:45 p.m. on March 4 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
NET VICTORY — Greenville junior Connor DiAngelo gives the net a swing after the team’s 69-33 win in the Class D South championship. With the victory over AR Gould, the Lakers have won 20 consecutive games.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
CUT DAY — Laker junior Noah Pratt, left, with classmate Connor DiAngelo, remove the last of the netting after No. 1 Greenville’s victory over second-seeded AR Gould. A 69-33 win was the second-most lopsided of Greenville’s 21 games in 2016-17.