POLAND — Jake Moody and CJ Martin staged a shooting clinic in the first half of Friday night’s Western Maine Conference game between Wells and Poland.
Both cooled off a bit in the second half, but Poland had Tyler Michaud and Alan Young to pick up the slack. Wells lacked that luxury, and watched the Knights pull away in the fourth quarter.
Martin and Michaud combined for 10 3-pointers, leading Poland’s 11-for-21 barrage from beyond the arc, while Young provided the balance inside as the Knights knocked off the Warriors, 83-70, despite 37 points by Moody.
Poland (8-8) never trailed as Martin came out firing, nailing four 3-pointers in the first quarter en route to 17 of his team-high 24 points in the first half (to go with six rebounds and four assists). Michaud took over in the third quarter with 12 of his 20 points, along with five steals. Young dropped in 15 of his 18 points, to go with 13 rebounds, in the second half.
Michaud drilled three 3-pointers and Young scored six points in the third quarter as the Knights widened a five-point halftime lead to 13.
“Late in the second quarter, we got away from what we were doing well, which was moving the ball and pounding it inside. We tried breaking our man down too much,” Poland coach Tyler Tracy. “In the third quarter, we worked it inside-out. Our post did a nice job of sealing and getting the diagonal pass. And obviously, CJ and Tyler shot the ball very well today.”
“(Getting the ball inside) opens it up a lot,” Martin said. “We’re better shooters when the ball comes back out to us as opposed to it being swung around.”
But the key to Poland’s 13-4 run may have been 6-foot-2 senior forward Shawn Murphy, who was able to cool off Moody just long enough for the Knights to take control.
“He did an unbelievable job. I know Moody had a big night, but it was hard-earned. He hit some tough baskets,” Tracy said. “Murph’s gritty, and he’s long. That frustrated Moody for a little bit.”
Moody scored the final four points of the quarter to get the Warriors (5-11) back to within nine. But Martin started the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer that put the lead back into double digits to stay and spark a 14-5 Poland run that essentially put the game away.
“We still have to have other guys step up besides (Moody),” Wells coach Troy Brown said. “And in sections they did. We just weren’t consistent enough, stepping up and making a few shots when they made their little runs.”
Alex McCormack-Kuhman added 11 points for Wells while Chris Carney had 10.
Martin set the tone just seconds after Poland won the opening tap by nailing his first 3-pointer. Tyler and Derek Michaud also scored from long-range against Wells’ zone to stake the Knights to a 24-11 lead.
“If I had to do it over again, I’d never play zone at the beginning of the game and let them get off to such a hot start,” Brown said. “I knew Martin was a good player. I didn’t realize he could stroke it like that.”
“We got it up the floor pretty quickly. We didn’t really let them set up,” Martin said. “When you hit your first shot, that’s really big. Our confidence was really high tonight. I think all of the seniors wanted to come out with a lot of intensity (on Senior Night).”
Wells used a full court press and an 11-point second quarter by Moody to get back into the game. The senior guard’s 3-pointer and a strong drive by McCormack-Kuhman in the final minute sliced a 10-point Poland lead in half.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
