GRAY — There wasn’t much Gray-New Gloucester could do when Yarmouth started knocking down 3-pointers and working the ball inside Saturday night.
The Patriots found a way to get around the Clippers’ stifling, full-court press in the first half before Yarmouth made its move in the third quarter and slipped away with a 65-51 victory.
The Clippers’ depth and precision from the perimeter in the second half finally wore down the Patriots.
“They are obviously very good at what they do. They play a system that is as good as any system in the state,” Gray-New Gloucester coach Ryan Deschenes said. “Their athletes are very well coached and their athletes play a tremendous zone pressure, and it is very affective and difficult to break.
“I thought we broke it well for two and half quarters. We executed and we got the ball where we needed to … and we got great looks. We attacked it correctly. And when we didn’t execute, Yarmouth capitalized. When you give Yarmouth opportunities, they are going to capitalize and take them.”
It was a tight game going in the second half, with Yarmouth leading 28-27.
That’s when the undefeated Clippers (7-0) tightened up its man-to-man defense and turned up the full-court press a notch. The Patriots mustered only nine points in the third quarter.
And that’s when Yarmouth’s offense went to work on Gray-NG’s zone defense. Yarmouth guard Cody Cook lit up the perimeter with an opening 3-pointer and followed with another two points to go along with his 14. Adam Labrie (10 points) dropped in a 3 and forwards Jordan Brown (21 points) and CJ Cawley took Labrie’s cue and accounted for three more 3-pointers. By the end of the third quarter, Yarmouth was ahead 49-36.
Of course, the Patriots made things happen inside the paint, but didn’t make good on their many trips to the free-throw line.
“We missed some easy ones,” Deschenes said. “They are just great athletes on that team.”
But in the first half, the Clippers didn’t make it look so easy, either.
The Patriots (3-4) proved to be a fast, stubborn bunch and Gray-NG’s Zack Haskell was every where the Clippers didn’t want him to be. Haskell pulled off a couple of steals that stunned Yarmouth and helped the Patriots to a 15-14 lead in the first quarter.
Gray-New Gloucester kept breathing down Yarmouth’s necks in the second quarter, too.
For the evening, Tyler St. Pierre dropped in the team-high 17 points and Andreas Kariotis and JT Magno each scored 12 for the Patriots.
“They are fast and they went over the top a couple of times,” Yarmouth coach Adam Smith said. “I thought we were sluggish in the back lines so we shortened it up to the half-court level and got after it a little bit better.
“And I thought when we went back to full-court, I thought we were more effective in the third quarter. We can go 10 deep. We can go deeper if I have to. I thought our bench played really well tonight.”
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