LEWISTON

Lewiston had it in the bag.

The Blue Devils, coming in riding a seven-game Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference basketball winning streak, led slumping Brunswick, with three straight losses, by 17 points (55-38) with 2:12 remaining in the third quarter on Friday.

Todd Hanson’s Dragons might have packed this one in, lost by 30 and went home to prepare for the final week of the regular season, with home contests against Erskine Academy (Tuesday) and “Battle of the Bridge” rival Mt. Ararat (Thursday).

But, the Dragons didn’t quit, getting to within three points on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the final time 62-59 with 3:22 left on the clock.

However, Lewiston forward Donne Agossou and his Blue Devil teammates were not about to allow this one to slip away, closing the game on a 9- 3 run for a 71-62 victory.

“I am very pleased with the effort and that we didn’t quit,” said Hanson, whose Dragons have dropped four straight to fall to 8-8. With Brunswick nursing the seventh seed in the Eastern Maine Class A Heal Point Standings, a solid finish is needed to get the Dragons pointed in the right direction.

Agossou scored a gamehigh 23 points, dished out six assists and pulled down seven rebounds in leading Lewiston to its eighth straight win, with a visit to Mt. Ararat scheduled for Tuesday.

“That fourth quarter was the way a playoff game is going to be played, and the momentum changed and you feel like the water is filling up the boat and you can’t get to shore in time,” said Lewiston coach Tim Farrar, whose Blue Devils improved to 11-5 and currently sit in fourth place in Eastern A. “You have to go out, make a stop and make a play, then go back out, make another stop and another play. I didn’t know it got down to three, and I’m glad I didn’t realize it, especially with the 3-point shooters Brunswick has.”

Lewiston’s speed

For nearly three quarters, the Blue Devils had the Dragons gasping for air, using their explosive, end-to-end fast-break offense to score at will. Lewiston led 21-12 after the first quarter, thanks to a quarter-closing 8-0 run. The spurt continued into the second quarter as the Blue Devils extended out to a 25-12 advantage.

Brunswick closed to within 25-17 on a 3-pointer by Blake Gordon, but Lewiston continued to come, outrebounding the Dragons 18-8 in the first half and taking a 38-26 advantage to the break.

Agossou had 15 first-half points, while Josh Thomas came off the bench to score eight. Derek Devereaux paced Brunswick (8-8) with nine points in the opening 16 minutes, including a pair of treys.

“I think we were a little bit shell-shocked at first with their quickness, and they were knocking it down and getting whatever shot they wanted,” said Hanson, who saw more of the same from the hosts during a 12-4 Lewiston third-quarter spurt for a 55-38 lead.

Brunswick began chipping away, getting nine third-quarter points from Konnor Scarponi as the Dragons closed the frame on a 7-2 run to get to 57-45.

Early in the fourth quarter, Gordon converted a threepoint play, and Brett Lancaster (three points, four rebounds, two steals off the bench) went hard to the basket for two points to bring Brunswick to 58-50. Brad Smith’s toughness inside cut the deficit to 58-52, and Gordon drained a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game.

After Agossou hit a short jumper for a 60-54 Lewiston edge, Smith made a free throw and scored two points in the paint to get the Dragons to 60-57, and Gordon’s two free throws after an Adam Poliquin basket made for a 62- 59 game with 3:22 remaining.

Lewiston needed something, and Poliquin found Steven Patrie with a pinpoint pass for two points and a 64-59 lead. A Brunswick turnover, Poliquin free throw and Patrie basket off another stellar pass from Thomas made it 67-59, and Agossou iced it with a pair of free throws.

“We expended a lot of energy in coming back, but I think we showed a little toughness that we have been lacking,” said Hanson. “We are not satisfied with coming in second. We made too many mistakes down the stretch tonight.”

Brunswick shot 40 percent (21 of 52) from the floor and 14 of 19 at the charity stripe. Scarponi led four Dragons in double figures with 16 points, with Gordon adding 13, and Devereaux and Smith 12 each. Smith had nine rebounds.

Thomas finished with 12 points for Lewiston, while Abdi Hussein had 11 and Poliquin nine.

Patrie, who scored all seven of his points in the second half, pulled down a team-high nine rebounds as Lewiston held a 33-22 advantage on the boards, including a big 13-4 edge in the offensive end.

Lewiston was 27 of 64 from the field (42 percent) and made 11 of 17 from the foul line.

Lewiston 71,
Brunswick 62

At Lewiston High School
Brunswick — 12 14 19 17 — 62
Lewiston — 21 17 19 14 — 71
Brunswick — Blake Gordon 4-5-13,
Derek Devereaux 4-1-12, Brad Smith 5-
2-12, Konnor Scarponi 6-2-16, Alex
Bandouveres 0-3-3, Pearson Cost 1-0-
3, Nolan Robbins 0-0-0, Brett Lancaster
1-1-3, Taran Payne 0-0-0. Totals — 21-
14-62.
Lewiston — Isaiah Harris 1-0-2, Adam
Poliquin 4-1-9, Donne Agossou 8-5-23,
Abdi Hussein 4-0-11, Steven Patrie 3-
1-7, Mohamed Mohamud 2-0-4, Josh
Thomas 4-3-12, Ben Howell 1-1-3, Carlos Gonzalez 0-0-0. Totals — 27-11-71.
3-point goals — (B) Devereaux 3,
Scarponi 2, Cost; (L) Agossou 2, Hussein 3, Thomas.
Records — Lewiston 11-5, Brunswick
8-8.
Next — The Dragons host Erskine
Academy on Tuesday, while the Blue
Devils visit Mt. Ararat on Tuesday. Both
games begin at 7 p.m.

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