Prelims, quarterfinals provide initial tournament tests for area basketball teams

By Ernie Clark
Staff Writer

Tourney time rekindles many memories for high school basketball players, coaches and fans.

Sometimes they involve magical moments on the court, but often they might be more subtle reflections surrounding the celebratory days of anticipation between the end of the regular-season grind and the opportunity to play on the big stage.

Two area teams this year, the Dexter girls and Greenville boys, already have qualified for the regional quarterfinals, with Dexter bound for the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor while Greenville will trek to the Augusta Civic Center.

Five other teams, the Foxcroft Academy and Piscataquis of Guilford boys and girls squads and the Dexter boys, all will seek to advance to the Cross Center by winning preliminary-round contests this week.

The Dexter girls, coached by Jody Grant, used patient offense and strong defense to finish 14-4 and earn the No. 2 seed in Class C North. The Tigers have yielded a paltry 29.3 points per game this winter, and are scheduled to play their quarterfinal at 11:05 a.m. next Tuesday against the survivor of the preliminary-round game between No. 7 Stearns of Millinocket (12-6) and No. 10 Madawaska (13-5).

Dexter, led by 6-foot-1 junior center Megan Peach, did not face Madawaska this winter but defeated Stearns twice, 44-29 at Guiski Gymnasium in Dexter on Dec. 23 and 42-38 in the regular-season finale at Millinocket on Feb. 4.

First-year Greenville boys head coach Bill Foley merely hoped his young club — the Lakers have just one senior on the roster — would simply qualify for postseason play.

But his team far exceeded that ambition during the regular season, its 13-5 record good for fourth place in Class D South.

Greenville, seeking its first postseason win since 2011, is locked into a regional quarterfinal against No. 5 A.R. Gould of South Portland (10-8) at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Augusta. Those teams did not meet during the regular season.

The eighth-ranked Foxcroft Academy girls (10-8) were set to host No. 9 Central of Corinth (9-9) in a Class B North prelim at 6 p.m. on Tuesday with a quarterfinal berth at the Cross Center at stake.

Coach Blake Smith’s Ponies already own two wins over Central, 46-43 at Corinth on Jan. 13 and 43-25 at Dover-Foxcroft in the Feb. 3 regular-season finale for both teams.

The winner will face top-ranked and defending Class C state champion Houlton (17-1) in the Class B quarters at 3:05 p.m. Saturday. Houlton defeated the Ponies 53-41 in Aroostook County on Dec. 28 in the only meeting of the winter between those teams.

Foxcroft’s boys squad earned the No. 11 seed in Class B North in dramatic fashion last week, outlasting Hermon 61-60 on senior forward Hunter Smith’s buzzer-beating shot in overtime and then topping Central 89-68 behind sophomore guard Drew Dankert’s 10-of-11 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc and 31 total points.

The reward for coach Tyler Erickson’s club is a trip to the County for a prelim against No. 6 Caribou set for 6 p.m. Wednesday. Caribou (10-8) edged Foxcroft 49-48 on a buzzer-beating fullcourt drive by senior guard Donovan Savage in their only previous meeting this season on Dec. 12.

The winner gets a quarterfinal date with No. 3 Washington Academy (16-2) at 8 p.m. Friday. WA shaded Foxcroft 60-52 at East Machias on Dec. 19.

The sixth-ranked Dexter boys (12-6) and No. 11 PCHS (7-11) are scheduled to square off Wednesday for a trip to the Class C North quarterfinals. Coach Peter Murray’s Dexter club edged coach Jamie Russell’s PCHS squad 55-54 at Guilford on Dec. 17 and downed the Pirates 46-30 at Dexter on Jan. 19.

The winner will advance to face No. 3 Bucksport (14-4) in Bangor at 9:35 a.m. next Wednesday, Feb. 17. Bucksport and PCHS did not play this season while the Golden Bucks defeated Dexter twice.

The sixth-ranked PCHS girls (12-6) were scheduled to host No. 11 Woodland (8-10) Monday evening in a Class C North prelim involving teams that did not meet during the regular season. The winner advances to a 9:30 a.m. quarterfinal on Tuesday, Feb. 16 against No. 3 Narraguagus of Harrington (15-2).