The Wiscasset boys basketball team led 24-20 at halftime during a rare matchup between Class D and Class B schools but could not hold on as Morse rallied to a 54-41 victory on Wednesday, Jan. 22 in Bath. The Shipbuilders improved to 4-9 on the season with the comeback win, while competing in Class B South. Wiscasset, a significantly smaller school, dropped to 7-3 on the season playing in Class D South.
The game consisted of alternating scoring runs by each of the teams, with Morse having the biggest spree, outscoring Wiscasset 22-1 in a stunning stretch during the third and fourth quarters that put the game out of reach.
Morse leaped out to an early 7-0 lead, which was countered by 11 straight points by a gritty, hard-working Wiscasset offense that drove right past, and into, the Bath defenders. The Wolverines defense shut down the Shipbuilders for a long stretch and the underdog Class D squad posted an 11-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Wiscasset maintained their lead throughout the second quarter, due to the hot shooting of senior guard Jevar Garricks who posted 13 of his game-high 18 points in the first half to propel Wiscasset to a 24-20 lead at the half.
The Wolverines kept their momentum after the halftime break, and enjoyed their biggest lead of the game, 29-22, three minutes into the third quarter after sophomore Landin Shirey swished a pair of free throws following a technical foul on Morse.
Inexplicably, the Wolverines shooting went very cold after that, and the Shipbuilders thoroughly took over the match. Morse outscored the Wolverines 14-1 throughout the rest of the third quarter to take a 36-30 advantage, and the momentum, into the fourth quarter.
After surging into the lead in the third quarter, the Shipbuilders played with new energy and swagger in the fourth quarter in front of their boisterous home crowd. The Morse fan noise was deafening as the Shipbuilders reeled off the first eight points of the final stanza to extend their lead to a commanding 14 point advantage at 44-30. The Wolverines struggled to hit shots in the final twelve minutes of the game, and looked exhausted and bewildered as the potential upset win over a Class B school slipped away.
“We couldn’t make a shot in the second half,” said Wolverines head coach Jamey Roy. “We picked a bad night to go cold and left a lot of Heal Points on the table. We shot 19% in the game which is our worst percentage of the season.”
In addition to the 18 points scored by Garricks, the Wolverines got scoring from Julien King 9, Landin Shirey 7, Spencer Pinkham 4, Alex Richard 2 and Tucker Davenport 1. Bryce Bustamonte was the leading scorer for Morse with 16 points, and Waylon Rohrer tallied 11.
