Cape Elizabeth 72

Greely 64

The Capers tossed a few more logs into the jam atop the Western Maine Class B boys basketball standings Monday night.

No. 5 in the latest edition of the Heal Points, Cape Elizabeth went on the road to take on No. 2 Greely, which had won eight in a row after dropping the opener to Falmouth.

The Capers, with two losses by a total of four points, used a huge first half from Alex Bowe, as well as a fine early defensive effort to build a big lead that allowed them to withstand a 32-point second half by the Rangers’ Chris Young, who finished with 38. Cape (8-2) held on for a 72-64 win over Greely (8-2) in Cumberland.

Bowe scored 11 of his 18 first-half points in the first quarter. He finished with a team-high 23, but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, where he saw limited action due to foul trouble. He was fouled on a 3-point attempt at the end of the first quarter and knocked down all three free throws to give Cape an 18-8 lead after one.

“Alex Bowe, he’s a handful for anybody,” said Cape coach Jim Ray. “He creates space so well when he gets his hands on the ball. He knocked some shots down. He got us to relax offensively.”

Bowe scored seven points in less than a two-minute span in the second to push his team’s lead to 16 at 29-13 midway through. A steal by Andrew Dickey and an outlet pass to Cam Brown for a fast-break layup in the final seconds of the quarter made it 35-19 in favor of the Capers entering the half.

Cape held Greely’s two big guns, Young and Trevor Tierney, to 10 points in the first half by playing tough team defense and doubling down when the ball went inside.

“I was so pleased with the way the guys came out and responded in that first half,” Ray said.

Greely coach Ken Marks said his team’s poor decision making, rather than the Cape defense, caused problems fthe Rangers early.

“It wasn’t their pressure that hurt us,” Marks said. “It was us trying to force this and create things that just weren’t there.”

Bowe’s ability to make contested shots was also problematic for Greely.

“You can’t let a kid go off like that and expect to get back in a game, not in a game like that,” Marks said. “They hit their shots in the first half and we didn’t. The second half was a much better played game. I thought we brought the intensity in the second half. I thought we hit the boards better. I thought we defended better.”

In the locker room, Marks didn’t change the game plan for defending Bowe, he simply tried to get his team to follow the plan better.

“No real adjustments,” Marks said. “We just emphasized what we should have been doing in the first half. We wanted to switch out on him and try to get a hand up to make sure he can’t just catch and shoot like he was in the first half. Second half, he didn’t as much.”

Young scored five quick points to start the third quarter. He had 11 in the quarter and cut the Cape lead to 39-33 when he scored in transition with 3:40 to go. But two free throws and a tough fadeaway jumper by Bowe with 2:30 left re-upped the lead to 10. Cape made six free throws to close the quarter with a 10-2 run, making it 49-35 heading into the fourth.

Bowe picked up his fourth foul with 5:33 remaining in the game and went to the bench. Young made two free throws – he had 21 points in the fourth quarter, including a 10-of-10 performance at the line – to make it 53-43. But Dickey (16 points) answered with a 3.

Cape guard Johnny Messina scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth. He was 11 for 13 from the foul line in the game. His defensive presence – doubling down to harass Greely’s inside players and force turnovers – was felt throughout the game, but his points in the fourth were critical with Bowe on the bench.

“He stepped up,” Ray said “He’s a competitor. He’s as tough a competitor as I’ve got. He made some foul shots to keep them at bay, a couple driving layups to keep them at bay.”

Messina said it was simply part of his duty.

“Me, Alex and Conor (Lawler) always do that as captains,” he said. “We just help each other. It wasn’t that big of a deal because we play well as a team and we can control it with a lead like that, so I figured we were good.”

Lawler did not dress for the game because of a violation of school policy. Ray said he was late for a first-period class.

A deep 3 by Young cut Cape’s lead to five with 22 seconds left, but Cam Brown’s two free throws sealed the win for the Capers, as Young’s second-half heroics came up short.

Afterwards, Ray was surprised when he heard Young’s final stat line.

“He had 38 points? I should have put three guys on him,” Ray said.

While point totals get a lot of attention, Ray said his team’s first-half defense was just as impressive to him. Tierney managed 13 points, but they didn’t come easily. No other Greely player had more than three points. Ray liked how his 6’7″ center played on the defensive end.

“Ben Fox did a nice job defensively,” he said. “That was probably his best game overall.”

Greely and Cape are slated to meet again in the regular-season finale on Feb. 6 in Cape Elizabeth.

“When we play them over there at their place in the last game of the year, I think that’s going to be a great lead-in to the tournament,” Marks said. “I’m thinking we’re both going to be there.”

It should be an interesting few weeks in the Western Maine Conference, as the top five teams all appear to be right in the mix. Right now, Falmouth is No. 1 in the Heal Points, Lake Region is third and Yarmouth is fourth.

“I love it, the big rivalries,” Messina said. “It shapes up pretty good at the end of the year.”

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