Oxford Hills’s Colton Carson attempts to get to the basket defended by Bangor’s Matt Fleming during their game in Paris on Wednesday. (Brewster Burns photo)
PARIS — Oxford Hills fans gave former Viking a loud round of applause when he was introduced with Bangor’s starters before Wednesday’s KVAC basketball matinee.
Things got a lot more hostile for all of the Rams after that, as the Vikings gradually pulled away for a big 51-43 win.
Colton Carson led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points and eight rebounds for the Vikings (9-6), who went a long way towards solidifying a first-round home game in the upcoming Class AA North tournament. Atreyu Keniston added 11 points and 11 rebounds and Chris St. Pierre chipped in with 10 points.
Fleming, a junior forward who transferred to Bangor last summer, led all scorers with 17 points and nine rebounds. Damien Vance added 16 points for the Rams (8-7).
“It’s a little extra chip on our shoulder going up against a former teammate,” said Keniston, whose team lost to the Rams, 56-46, a month ago. “I think last game we didn’t really come out of the halftime prepared and they sort of lit us up in the second half. This time we came out, kept the energy up and put them away.”
St. Pierre’s 3-pointer to start the third quarter gave the Vikings a 32-22 lead and sparked a 12-6 run that sent them into the fourth with a 41-28 lead. Spencer Strong (eight points) started the fourth with a 3-pointer to give them their largest cushion, and Bangor never recovered.
“We wanted to get a little bit of revenge on them,” St. Pierre said. “We wanted to contain their 3s and we know they like to run the ball, but I thought we did a good job of containing them.”
St. Pierre had the unenviable task of guarding the 6-foot-5 Fleming and did a solid job, limiting him to six points in the first half.
“It was weird, but I liked it. It was a cool experience,” St. Pierre said. “We knew him really well, and we knew it was going to be a high-intensity game from the start.”
Oxford Hills trailed, 12-11, heading into the second quarter but got a spark off of the bench from junior Garrett Record (eight points), who hit a pair of 3-pointers to help them head into halftime with a 29-22 lead.
“Garrett Record played by far the best game of his career,” Oxford Hills coach Scott Graffam said. “He hasn’t shot the ball like he shot it today.”
The Vikings also had zero turnovers in the first half, and good work on the offensive boards by Keniston and Carson (nine combined) helped them take a half-dozen more shots than the Rams.
“We passed the ball well. We were fairly unselfish, sometimes too unselfish,” Graffam said. “We sprinted back on defense. We did a decent job on Fleming and a decent job on Vance and we held them to 43 points.
Both teams had to overcome a quick turnaround after playing the night before. But it was the road team that lost its legs first, shooting just 1-for-8 in the third quarter.
After St. Pierre’s trey got Oxford Hills going to start the second half, Strong followed with a layup off a nice feed from Keniston, then Janek Luksza did the same for Keniston to make it 36-24. Bangor didn’t get any closer than nine points after that until the final minute of the game.
Oxford Hills Atreyu Keniston looks on as Bangor’s Jason Smith comes up with the handle on a loose ball with help from Ram teammate Noah Missbrenner during their game in Paris on Wednesday. (Brewster Burns photo)With Bangor’s Damien Vance putting on the pressure late in the game, Oxford Hills’ Spencer Strong looks for an open teammate during their game in Paris on Wednesday. (Brewster Burns photo)Oxford Hills’ Garrett Record goes up against Bangors’ Matt Fleming, Henry Westrich and Jason Smith to make the basket during their game in Paris on Wednesday. (Brewster Burns photo)
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