Wiscasset boys’ basketball team defeated St. Dominic’s 47-42 on Feb. 19 to earn a berth in the Western Maine Class C championship game with Dirigo. Wiscasset fell to Dirigo during the regular season and again in the Mt. Valley Conference Championship by 10 points. The last time the Redskins played for a regional title was in 2005, when they beat Boothbay in the semifinals, then lost to Hall-Dale in the finals.
Wiscasset struggled from the floor in the 2nd period, throwing up desperation shots that missed their mark by feet on a few occasions. The Saints controlled the boards in Wiscasset’s offensive end, limiting the Redskins to only a one second effort.
Hopkins scored on a Jimmy Davis pass to put Wiscasset up by three. Saint Chris Bryant settled two at the line and Nathan Poulin settled a three to give St. Dom’s the lead. Cody Griffin crashed the glass to tie the score, before the Saints rattled off eight straight points to lead 23-15. Sumner Averill scored off a Hinkley feed to cut the lead to six at the half, 23-17.
A much more focused Redskin team took the floor in the 3rd and lit up the nets for 19 points, while holding the Saints to five. Allen gave St. Dom’s an eight-point lead, before Wiscasset buckled down on defense and held the Saints to just three more points in the quarter.
The Redskins forced five Saint turnovers, and scored 15 straight points to build a seven-point lead. Wiscasset scored three 3-pointers in the rally, one each from Davis, Sonia and Dennison.
Dennison also scored two from the line; Averill scored a hoop and a foul shot, and Hinkley scored in the run. The two squads traded points for the remainder of the quarter to go into the final period with Wiscasset ahead 36-28.
Greg LaBonte opened the 4th quarter with a three to cut the lead to five. Dennison scored off the offensive glass to bump the leap back to seven. St. Dom’s cut the lead to five, five more times in the 4th, but were not able to overcome the determined Redskins.
Scoring for Wiscasset were Dennison 12 (9R,4B,2S,1A), Sonia 9 (5R,1S), Hinkley 6 (5R,2S,6A), Averill 6 (5R,2A), Hopkins 5 (2R,1S), Davis 4, and Griffin 4 (6R,1B).
Scoring for St. Dom’s were Allen 16 (15R), Keaney 12, LaBonte 5 (6R), Poulin 3, Bryant 2, Matt Barnett 2, and St. Pierre 2 (6R).
“We locked it down on defense and started hitting some shots. We missed every shot imaginable in the second quarter, even lay-ups. They were nervous, but being the veteran team that we are I knew we would come out of it. The shot Sumner Averill hit to end the half made a big shot to cut the lead to six,” coach Matt Cook said.
Wiscasset’s defense took over in the third period. “That’s what we’ve been doing all season. Our defensive pressure wears them down.”
Looking forward to Saturday’s West C championship game with Dirigo, Cook said, “We’ve got to do something to stop Travis Knight. We know we can do it. We did in the MVC championship game with Jason Dennison in the game, when he was not on the bench in foul trouble. We’ve got to prevent Knight from getting the ball inside and keep him off the boards. He’s going to get some, but we have to limit him.”