The undefeated Medomak Valley boys basketball team dominated Camden Hills 62-50 in front of a big, noisy crowd on Saturday, Jan. 4 in Rockport. The game was not as close as the final score might indicate, as the Panthers opened up a twenty-one point lead midway through the third quarter and then leaned on their bench depth to coast to an easy win.
The Panthers silenced the Hawaiian-themed home crowd early in the game by exploding to a 15-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. The tenacious defense that Medomak Valley is known prevented the typically high-scoring Windjammers from scoring a basket until their star player, Nolan Ames, dropped in a field goal with less than a minute left in the opening stanza. The Panthers offense kept the foot on the gas during the second quarter, scoring 20 points while extending their lopsided advantage to 35-17 at the half.
The Panthers continued to control the match in the third quarter, which got interesting near the conclusion of the period due to a thunderous dunk by Gabe Lash that riled up the crowd and both benches. Panthers fans had an anxious moment when Lash needed to be attended to after landing awkwardly following his dunk.
Shortly thereafter, the Panthers defense caused a turnover and Lash received a long pass and raced to the hoop on a breakaway but was tackled aggressively from behind by a Camden Hills player who received a technical foul for his misdeed. The third quarter ended with the Panthers enjoying an insurmountable 47-28 lead.
Despite the large deficit, the scrappy Camden Hills squad did not give up during the rivalry game and outscored the Panthers 22-15 in the fourth quarter. However, the ultimate result of the match was never in question, and the gap was never less than a ten point advantage for Medomak.
Lash was the star of the game with 15 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, three assists, and a blocked shot. Also scoring for Medomak Valley were Mason Nguyen with 14 points (2R, 1A, 1S); Rocco DePatsy 10 (5R, 1S, 1B); Kristian Schumann eight (4R, 1A); Kollin Donlin six (3R, 2B); Luke Cheesman four (1R, 1S); Owen Dostie three (2R, 1A, 2S); and Vishal Mellor two (2R, 4A, 1S).
Camden Hills dropped to 3-5 with the loss. Ames led the Windjammers with 19 points, including a loud dunk.
With the victory over the Class A Windjammers, the Panthers improved to 8-0 and maintained second place in the Heal Points standings for Class B South behind top-ranked York (9-0).
