GRAY — John Martin got his milestone, but Gray-New Gloucester’s opponent — rival Greely — got the big inter-class boys’ basketball victory.
Martin scored his 1,000th career point for the Patriots, but the Rangers put a damper on the party with a third-quarter run that turned a close game into a 72-48 rout Friday night.
John Martin
Greely (11-3) never trailed after starting the game on a 6-0 run, but the Patriots (10-4) did get as close as as 37-35 early in the third. From there, the Rangers went on a 22-2 run to end the quarter, and didn’t relent in the fourth, either.
Gray-NG coach Ryan Deschenes said his team tried to mix up its defense to start the third, which allowed the Patriots to score the first four points and hold Greely scoreless for the first three minutes. But it was the Rangers’ defense that kick-started their pull-away scoring streak.
“We need to make sure that when stuff isn’t going great offensively that our offense needs to come from our defense,” Greely coach Travis Seaver said. “And we did it for a good part of that stretch in the third quarter there. Our good defense turned into our offense.”
“What ultimately did us in was their half-court trap,” Deschenes said. “They’re so long up front, and we weren’t timing our cuts well, we weren’t looking for the opening cuts, and they got us flustered. And when Greely goes on a run, they go on a big run. We didn’t weather that storm, and next thing you know, it’s ballgame.”
Michael Coppersmith had a three-point play to energize the Rangers (after Logan Bagshaw’s assumed 3-pointer was deemed a 2-pointer by the refs to start the run), but the highlight was Zach Brown’s alley-oop to Drew Story for a two-handed dunk in transition, which gave Greely a 49-37 lead.
“Our biggest problem is how we react to runs, how other teams go on runs, and Greely went on a big run and we just couldn’t stop it,” Martin said.
Martin’s highlight came with just under five minutes to play in the second quarter. He took a long 3 that splashed in to push him past 999 points, while also cutting the Patriots’ deficit to 24-18.
“It definitely took off a lot of pressure, that 3, because everyone on my team, we were just thinking about that,” Martin said. “So once I knocked that one, everyone kind of started to play, and everything started to work out more, and we kind of brought it closer.”
The senior guard started the game three points away from the milestone. After missing his first four shots, his put-back of his own layup miss with 1:50 left in the first made it 14-6 Greely.
“After I missed my first shot, I knew that I should probably start getting to the rim more,” Martin said. “So I got to the rim, made a layup, I got a little more comfortable.”
The milestone-reaching 3 came on his next shot. He made two free throws later in the second, but was held scoreless in the second half and finished with seven points.
“We just played him — great player, and we played him straight up, and we did a great job,” Seaver said.
Despite the end result, Deschenes called it a “special game, special game for John.” The gym at Gray-New Gloucester High School was as packed as Deschenes said he’s ever seen it.
A small portion of that crowd, decked in Greely maroon, got to cheer at the end. Storey and Logan Bagshaw paced the Rangers’ offense, with 24 and 17 points, respectively. Coppersmith added 10 off the bench.
Ryan Lachance led the Patriots with 12 points. Hunter Colby had eight, and Zack Pomerleau and Nick Pelletier matched Martin with seven.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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