SOUTH PARIS – Depending on who you talked to following Oxford Hills’ 45-43 win over Lewiston Tuesday night, it was either improved defense by the Vikings or lack of focus by the Blue Devils that allowed the home team to earn a season split between the KVAC competitors.
It was probably a combination of both. Oxford Hills dominated the first half, then had to hold on in the second to avenge their 65-50 loss to the Blue Devils back on Dec. 17.
“We’re a better defensive team than we were last time,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “We’ve really worked hard on our halfcourt man defense and that has helped obviously. They shoot as well tonight as they did down there. They really shot lights out down there.”
The Blue Devils (6-2) shot just 29 percent from the floor Tuesday night. The Vikings (4-3) didn’t fare much better (33 percent), but controlled the offensive glass in the first half, led by Chris McVety (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Jake Cash (eight rebounds), to build a 10-point halftime lead.
“We lost the battle on the boards tonight. We got creamed on the boards in the first half,” Blais said. “I think our heads, for the first half, were somewhere else. We’ve got a big game coming up on Friday against Gardiner and I think a couple of kids might have been looking ahead. You can’t do that here, especially.”
Lewiston almost got away with it, though. Down by 11 late in the third quarter, the Devils went on a 13-3 run to get back in the game and eventually take the lead on a pair of Jared Turcotte free throws with 2:54 left. The teams traded free throws to knot things up at 43 with 1:32 left, which is when McVety had to leave the game with his fifth foul.
Ben Ryerson, who finished with a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds, scored the game-winner on a floater in the lane with 58 seconds left. Ryerson then drew an offensive foul from Turcotte on Lewiston’s ensuing possession.
“I was going for (the charge) the whole way because I saw him backing down the lane, and then he backed into me,” Ryerson said.
The Vikings had chances to salt the game away in the final 58 seconds but missed the front end of three one-and-ones. The Devils had the ball at midcourt with a chance to tie or win with 4.4 seconds left. They inbounded to Turcotte, who drew the defense in with a couple of dribbles toward the top of the key, then kicked it out to Abdinassir Abdi. Abdi had an open look at a 3-pointer to win it, but it bounced high off the iron at the buzzer.
“Luckily we defended well enough down the stretch, got a hand on the shooter and we got a couple of key rebounds,” Graffam said. “Obviously, that charge Ryerson took was a big play.”
“I think defensively we played a lot better tonight,” Ryerson said. “We took away their gaps and didn’t let them get second-chance points off offensive rebounds.
Jon Fournier led Lewiston with 12 points. Joe Stachowiak added 11 points and 11 boards for the Devils.
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