Todd Hanson said during the preseason that senior guard Nate Benoit “has been a pleasant surprise.”
After having spent his sophomore and junior seasons improving his game on the Brunswick High School jayvee boys basketball team, Benoit had his coming-out party on Friday in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference season opener against rival Morse.
Benoit finished with a game-high 19 points and added four steals and four assists.
“It was unlike anything that I have ever experienced before,” said Benoit. “It was a different pace than last year on jayvee. The start was a big thrill and I just tried to carry that same pace throughout the game. This is a good start, knowing that we have a ton of tough games coming up.”
“Here is a kid that played jayvees as a junior, something kids usually won’t do these days, and he stuck with it,” said Hanson of Benoit. “He is the most improved guy in the program and has a scorer’s mentality. He did a great job tonight and got some points for us to get us going.”
Behind Benoit’s first-quarter scoring and a dominating inside game led by Corban Teel, the Dragons turned a 6-2 deficit into a 20- 6 advantage early in the second quarter.
“The wheels came off, and from our stats I think we had 40 turnovers, and you can’t win by doing that,” said Morse coach Brian Bennett, whose 0-1 Shipbuilders visit Leavitt on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. “We did not make jump shots, had trouble inside, and did a lot of things wrong. But, I do believe in this group. They fight and don’t give up. It is only one game.”
For Hanson, this was the first time this season that he had his entire team dressed and ready to go.
“Today was the first game action Jesse (Devereaux) had, Colby (Bucknam) had, and Jackson (Gordon) and Corban are just coming off football, and we just figured if we waited that we would be OK. Once we got settled, we did very well,” said Hanson.
Morse’s Freeman
After Teel gave Brunswick a 2-0 lead at the free-throw line, Morse used a 6-0 run behind a pair of 3-pointers from Dakota Freeman for a 6-2 lead.
Benoit scored his first points on Brunswick’s next possession, and Josh Dorr drained a pair at the line to tie the game. Over the final 2:19 of the first quarter, the Dragons ran away, with Benoit tallying seven straight points and Teel putting home a rebound for a 15-6 advantage. Benoit closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating putback for a 17-6 Brunswick lead, and the senior completed an 18-0 run with a 3-pointer to open the second quarter.
Thomas Warren scored four points for Morse in the second frame, with Damon Osmond picking up three points.
However, six players scored for Brunswick in the quarter, led by Dorr and Kyle Hanson with four points apiece as the Dragons claimed a 34-14 halftime edge.
Freeman heated up to open the second half, nailing three shots from behind the arc. But, those were Morse’s only points of the quarter as the Dragons racked up 23 more behind nine tough inside points from Teel, who finished with 15 points, 14 rebounds, three blocked shots and four steals.
“When he puts his mind to it, he is a really good post player,” said Todd Hanson of Teel.
Morse had trouble getting inside, often settling for outside jumpers. The Shipbuilders shot just 26 percent (12-of-46) from the field and made 6-of-12 from the freethrow line.
“We will work on our confidence and taking the ball to the net,” said Bennett. “We didn’t cut and finish around the basket. It just wasn’t our night.”
Freeman had 17 points to pace Morse, with Tyreik Foster adding five points off the Shipbuilders’ bench. Osmond had a team-high six rebounds, with Freeman adding five boards and Parker Onorato dishing out three assists and picking up three steals.
Dorr chipped in nine points and three steals for Brunswick, which shot 47 percent (27-of-57) from the floor and made 6-of-10 at the line. The Dragons owned the boards, out-rebounding Morse, 38-24. Despite foul trouble, Gordon had five points, six rebounds and three steals, and Devereaux dished out four assists.
Brunswick visits Mt. Ararat on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Brunswick 65,
Morse 37
Friday, at Brunswick
Morse— 6 8 9 14 — 37
Brunswick — 17 17 23 8 — 65
Morse — Parker Onorato 0-0-0,
Thomas Warren 2-0-4, Tait Nygaard
0-1-1, Damon Osmond 1-1-3, Dakota
Freeman 5-2-17, Arius Eich 0-0-0,
Alex Fernald 0-0-0, Connor Upham 0-
0-0, Tyreik Foster 1-2-5, Jack Harrington 1-0-2, Joseph Rice 1-0-2, Raz
Baltazar 1-0-2. Totals — 12-6-37.
Brunswick — Jesse Devereaux 0-0-
0, Nate Benoit 8-0-19, Josh Dorr 3-3-
9, Jackson Gordon 2-1-5, Corban
Teel 6-2-15, Colby Buckham 2-0-4,
Kyle Hanson 2-0-4, Sam Sharpe 2-0-
4, Jack Bates 0-0-0, Alex Small 0-0-0,
Alejandro Garcia-Sancho 1-0-2,
Jacob Lamoureux 0-0-0, Dawson
Hebert 1-0-3, Sam Dorval 0-0-0.
Totals — 27-6-65.
3-point field goals — (Mo) Freeman
5, Foster, Baltazar; (B) Benoit 3, Teel,
Hebert.
Records — Brunswick 1-0, Morse 0-
1.
Up next for the Shipbuilders —
Tuesday at Leavitt, 6:30 p.m.
Up next for the Dragons — Tuesday
at Mt. Ararat, 7 p.m.
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